Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla's new CFO, now has two positions and is surrounded by uncertainty

 Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla's new CFO, now has two positions and is surrounded by uncertainty

Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla's new CFO, already holds a sizable position as the organization's chief accounting officer.

Talent development at Tesla Inc. has a long history of internal promotion. In the scrappy, hard-charging ethos of the automaker, outside workers don't stick around for very long, and working under Elon Musk requires a certain amount of endurance.

Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla's new CFO, already holds a sizable position as the organization's chief accounting officer. The news that Zach Kirkhorn, a 13-year veteran of Tesla who unexpectedly resigned from the CFO position, would be taking his place stunned observers of the company on Monday.

Taneja is less well-known, in contrast to Kirkhorn, who has consistently engaged investors in lengthy conversations and has even acted as Musk's stand-in when the latter missed Tesla's results presentation. He worked for Tesla's accounting department before moving on to SolarCity, a struggling business that many investors regret the EV maker buying. He only made a brief appearance on one Tesla earnings call, in the beginning of 2019.

An inquiry for comment was not answered by 45-year-old Taneja.

As of 9:34 a.m. in New York on Tuesday, the company's shares were down 1.1% at $248.58. This year so far, the stock has more than doubled. 

The modification occurs at a pivotal moment for Tesla. In order to compete in the increasingly congested EV industry, the business is constructing a new manufacturing in Mexico and prepares to release its Cybertruck pickup. Tesla's profitability has suffered as a result of price reductions across its entire product range to preserve its leadership in the electric vehicle market.

Taneja began his professional life in New Delhi. According to his LinkedIn page, he earned a bachelor's degree in business from Delhi University in 1999. After that, he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tesla's longstanding accounting company, for over 17 years.

In 2016 he began working at SolarCity and was promoted to corporate controller. Soon after, Tesla bought the solar panel installer. In a subsequent lawsuit, the automaker's shareholders charged Musk and Tesla's board with

Later, Tesla's board and Musk were sued by the automaker's stockholders for allegedly concealing SolarCity's financial difficulties.

Taneja was appointed corporate controller for Tesla in May 2018 and chief financial officer in March 2019. Dave Morton, his predecessor, had been hired away from Seagate Technology but left his position after just a few weeks.

Strange Arrangement

According to Greg Selker, managing director of executive recruiting company Stanton Chase, hiring business-oriented CFOs with extensive operational expertise is a widespread trend in corporate America. Taneja worked his way up through PwC's auditing ranks, and his dual positions at Tesla constitute an uncommon arrangement.

Taneja is essentially an accountant's accountant, according to Selker, who stated in a phone conversation that a CAO is in charge of all financial reporting. A CFO often comes from a more diverse corporate experience.

Taneja could have played a key role in Tesla's early success in India. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, he is one of the four directors at Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Ltd., which was founded in Bengaluru, a southern city, in 2021. Tesla has yet to sell any electric vehicles in India.

According to information gathered by Bloomberg, he had roughly 105,000 shares of the firm as of July 7; this means that his investment is presently worth about $26 million.

The world's richest person, Elon Musk, is the CEO of six businesses, including Tesla, SpaceX, X (previously Twitter), Boring Co., Neuralink, and his most recent endeavour, xAI. Tesla has long been questioned about whether it is overly dependent on a single person due to Musk's numerous interests and the conflicting demands on his time.

The EV manufacturer only has four executive officers: Musk, Tom Zhu, senior executive officer of automotive, Drew Baglino, senior assistant president of powertrain and energy engineering, and now Taneja.