diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh
index d99c49b4e2..a2e994849b 100755
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh
@@ -25,4 +25,5 @@ done
 
 echo "create ${tar_path}"
 (cd "${tarball_content_dir}"; tar cvfJ "${tar_path}" .)
+rm -rf "${tarball_content_dir}"
 popd