Former Tesla senior vice president Drew Baglino is selling $181.5 million worth of stock

Ex Tesla CEO Drew Baglino, who announced his resignation earlier this month, has sold shares in the electric vehicle company worth about $181.5 million, according to filing on Thursday with the SEC.

Baglino, who joined Tesla in 2006, is selling about 1.14 million of his shares, the filing said, giving an “estimated sale date” of April 25 and describing it as an exercise of stock options.

Tesla announced on April 15 that it was cutting 10% of its global workforce following a drop in first-quarter shipments and a sharp drop in its stock price. That day, Baglino and fellow veteran Rohan Patel said they were leaving the company.

Baglino announced his departure in a statement published on X.

“Yesterday I made the difficult decision to move on from Tesla after 18 years,” he wrote. “I am so grateful to have worked with and learned from the countless incredibly talented people at Tesla over the years.”

Baglino started as an engineer and rose through the ranks, most recently as senior vice president of propulsion and power engineering, a job he held since 2016. Reporting directly to Musk, Baglino was considered the unofficial chief of operations by many colleagues.

Before the latest sale, Baglino unloaded about $4 million worth of stock in two deals this year — one in late February and the other in early April, filings show. In each case, he sold 10,500 shares, exercising stock options in both.

During earnings calls and other major company events, including an unveiling of Tesla’s “Master Plan Part 3” in the spring of 2023, Baglino has become a familiar voice and face to shareholders, often discussing mining, battery manufacturing and productivity.

Baglino did not respond to requests for comment. Tesla also had no comment.

Baglino resigned as Tesla appeared to be undertaking a major strategic shift.

Musk said on the company’s earnings call this week that while Tesla still intends to produce affordable, new models of electric cars in 2025, investors should focus more on “Tesla’s road map to autonomy.” Tesla said it plans to reveal the design of the robotics, or CyberCab, on August 8.

Musk also touted Tesla’s investments in AI infrastructure and the company’s potential to finally deliver technology for self-driving vehicles, robotics, a driverless ride-hailing service and a “sentient” humanoid robot. He even told doubters to stay away from the stock.

“If someone doesn’t believe that Tesla is going to solve autonomy, I think they shouldn’t be an investor in the company,” Musk said on the call.

Tesla’s share price, which had fallen about 40% for the year before the earnings report, jumped 18% in the two trading days after Musk’s comments, closing Thursday at $170.18.

Bernstein analyst Tony Sacconaghi is among the skeptics. In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Sacconaghi questioned whether the affordable electric cars promised by Musk “will really be new models or improvements to existing models.” He also said competitors, notably Waymo, already have robo-cab services on the road, while Tesla is still struggling with autonomous vehicle research and development.

Tesla reported a 9% drop in revenue in the first quarter, the steepest year-over-year decline since 2012, due to falling demand and increased global competition. The company also reported a 55% drop in net profit during the quarter.

Although Musk said he expected the second quarter to be better than the first, the company did not issue guidance for the year.

At the end of the earnings call, Martin Vieja, Tesla’s vice president of investor relations, announced that he, too, was resigning.

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