Tesla has disclosed the leaving off of its long-time chief financial officer (CFO), Zachary Kirkhorn. The position will be replaced by Tesla’s chief accounting officer, Vaibhav Taneja.
Although Tesla had issues keeping hold of leadership in some positions, it wasn’t the case for the CFO. In particular, Deepak Ahuja was Tesla’s CFO for around a decade. He left in 2019, and since then the position has been led by Zachary Kirkhorn. Kirkhorn had already been at Tesla for more than six years respectively.
Kirkhorn contributes its best to Tesla and plays its role with responsibility. As he rose through the ranks of Tesla’s finance department. Also, he made numerous transitions being on to the leading role at a time when Tesla started to generate huge cash flow.
To be very precise then he is liked among Tesla shareholders for his straightforward and transparent answers on Tesla’s earnings calls. Yesterday, the company revealed that Kirkhorn is leaving and the position is being replaced by Vaibhav Taneja:
As of August 4, 2023, Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”) appointed Vaibhav Taneja as Chief Financial Officer in addition to his current role as Chief Accounting Officer, to succeed Zachary Kirkhorn. Mr. Kirkhorn stepped down as of August 4, after a thirteen-year tenure with the company, the last four years of which he has served as Master of Coin and Chief Financial Officer. During his tenure, Tesla has seen tremendous expansion and growth. Tesla thanks Mr. Kirkhorn for his significant contributions. Mr. Kirkhorn will continue to serve Tesla through the end of the year to support a seamless transition.
Moving further, the automaker gave some background about Taneja. Especially because of the reason, he is not as well known to shareholders. Although he has also been at Tesla for a while.
Prior to this appointment as CFO, Mr. Taneja, 45, served as Tesla’s Chief Accounting Officer since March 2019, as Corporate Controller from May 2018, and as Assistant Corporate Controller between February 2017 and May 2018. Mr. Taneja served in various finance and accounting roles at SolarCity Corporation from March 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Taneja was employed at PricewaterhouseCoopers in both India and the U.S. between July 1999 and March 2016.
Tesla didn’t give a reason for Kirkhorn’s departure. But it seems like it is on good terms if he is staying at Tesla until the end of the year.
