At the time of the drastic drop in sales of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US), there are reports that the IT veteran Jay Gagnon will take over sales across different industries.

As sales plummet for Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US), a long-time behind-the-scenes technology executive has been pushed into the spotlight. According to multiple sources, Raj Jegannathan, who was originally in charge of IT and data, has taken over the sales business. It is widely believed within the company that he will fill the void left by the departure of Troy Jones, the former highest sales executive in North America who left earlier this month. Jones had been with Tesla, Inc. for 15 years and was one of the recent departures from the management team. It is currently unclear whether Jegannathan's appointment is temporary, but what is certain is that this vice president, who has no traditional sales experience, is now closer to Musk. It is understood that Tesla, Inc. has just released its quarterly results, which are not favorable: consumer dissatisfaction with Musk's political views, aging models, and competition from lower-priced rivals led to a 13% year-on-year decline in global deliveries last quarter, falling to a three-year low. The European and American markets were hit the hardest, and the sales team faced increased pressure. Sources said that earlier this year, Jones had tried to reverse the trend and downplay the "political headwinds," but was unable to stop the decline and ultimately chose to leave. The personnel earthquake is still ongoing. In addition to Jones, Musk's long-time confidant Omead Afshar has also resigned, and Jegannathan is believed to have taken over the North American and European sales and manufacturing business previously managed by Afshar. Since June, the head of Siasun Robot & Automation, Milan Kovac, the battery executive Vineet Mehta, and the software manager David Lau have left one after another; last year, the chief battery engineer Drew Baglino and the global public policy director Rohan Patel have also left. The series of departures of senior executives have raised further questions about the stability of Tesla, Inc.'s operations. Looking at his background, Jegannathan is a typical "tech guy." He joined Tesla, Inc. in 2012 as a senior engineer, responsible for internet traffic and cloud security, later overseeing the construction of a data center in Texas. This year, he was promoted to vice president of IT/AI infrastructure, applications, and information security, and most recently took over the automotive service business. In 2022, when Musk acquired Twitter, he was briefly seconded to the social media platform. Now, this "old tech guy" who has been at Tesla, Inc. for 13 years suddenly finds himself on the front lines of sales. Whether he can use algorithms and data to bridge the gap in traditional sales experience remains to be seen. Tesla, Inc. did not respond to requests for comment; the stock price rose by 3% on Friday, but is still down 18% since the beginning of the year.