Tesla has slashed 14% of its workforce so far this year as Elon Musk’s electric car maker has been hamstrung by increasingly fierce competition from Chinese EV firms as well as reduced demand for his products, according to an update, Report informs via The New York Post.

As of June 21, Tesla’s internal email list numbered 121,000 people — down from a global workforce of 140,473 as of Dec. 31 of last year, according to CNBC.

The Comcast-owned financial news channel obtained an email written by Musk and addressed to “everybody” on Tesla’s payroll dated June 17.

“Over the next few weeks, Tesla will be doing a comprehensive review to provide stock options grants for exceptional performance,” Musk wrote in the email, adding that options will be given to “anyone who does something outstanding for the company.”

Musk, the second richest person in the world with a fortune valued by Bloomberg Billionaires Index at $207 billion, told employees last Monday that the electric vehicle maker is working on stock-based compensation for high-performing employees, according to two people who reviewed an internal memo.

The plan comes just days after Musk won shareholder approval for his $56 billion pay plan consisting of stock options and two months after he announced job cuts affecting more than 10% of Tesla’s global workforce.

Earlier this month, Tesla shareholders voted to approve Musk’s $56 billion compensation package that was invalidated by a Delaware state judge.

That same judge, Kathaleen McCormick, must now once again decide whether the pay package is legal.