No one denies that employees are "fat" as you call them. That is true of EVERY business, even worker's collectives. If your collective makes $1,000,000 profit a year, you will be better off doing it with 50 employees than 60. That is the most brain-dead simple economics there is, so your analysis is not exactly prescient.

The problem is you are asserting meaning that simply isn't there. First you assert what the author meant, in spite of the fact that it is not clear in the article. Then you assert that Tesla agrees with your assertion about what the author meant, which is even less clear.

Here is the relevant quote:

Now comes the task of integrating two companies that have a track record of fleeting profits and frequent fundraising needs--not to mention thousands of employees.

This time the emphasis is mine. It is clear that the author is talking about the difficulties involved with integrating the companies. There is no reason at all to jump to the conclusion that what he really meant there was that they should be doing massive layoffs.

And of course even if that was what he meant, why would you also assume that Tesla also shares the author's view? As far as I know, BusinessInsider is not an official Tesla magazine, so I can't see the author's opinion being representative of Tesla's views.

This has nothing to do with "trying to PR this thing", it has to do with you jumping to unsupported conclusions.