His CEO pay is $37k/year.

Somewhat higher now ($50k). “Mr. Musk’s base salary reflects the current applicable minimum wage requirements under applicable California law, and he is subject to income taxes based on such base salary. Mr. Musk, however, has never accepted and currently does not accept his salary.”

Of course he has also received equity compensation and will receive more in the future if Tesla somehow makes it. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-24/elon-musk...

Well, besides stock grants worth billions.

His compensation is in options, not grants. And only worth billions if Tesla continues to grow and becomes profitable.

If they have a need to cut 9%, I'd think they're focused on cash flow reduction

I was referring to the recklessly poor decisions, not the salary.

A comment I oft make about startup layoffs, which is unpopular: (and apropos whether you consider Tesla a "startup")

Reckless decision making leads to positions that are usually unnecessary, so many layoffs in such companies are positions that shouldn't have been hired for to begin with.