Business
Tesla CFO Steps Down
Zach Kirkhorn, Elon Musk's Tesla's former chief financial officer, has left his post following 13 years with the business. Vaibhav Taneja, a corporate executive, will take over as CFO at the end of the year, according to Musk.
According to CNBC, Tesla stated on Monday that CFO Zach Kirkhorn would be resigning with effect from Friday. Vaibhav Taneja, the automaker's chief accounting officer, has been named the new CFO and will occupy both positions simultaneously.
The market reacted negatively to Kirkhorn's departure, as shares of Tesla fell by about 3% after the news before recovering to conclude the day down by less than 1%. Tuesday intraday trading saw another decline in Tesla stock. With the current leadership shift, the auto company has replaced its CFO twice in less than four years.
Kirkhorn posted a statement on Linkedin, expressing his gratitude, saying, “As I shift my responsibilities to support this transition, I want to thank the talented, passionate, and hard-working employees at Tesla, who have accomplished things many thought not possible.”
Since 2010, Kirkhorn had worked for the company as chief financial officer. Taneja, his replacement, has been with the company since 2017 and previously spent nearly 17 years working for SolarCity and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Musk rescued SolarCity from financial difficulty, which led to a shareholder lawsuit against his whole board of directors.
Dan Ives, a Wedbush Securities tech analyst, commented on the departure, stating, “The heavy lifting at Tesla has been done.” Ives further added: “I believe he will likely be a CEO somewhere else in 2024,” however, “it’s a blow in the near term as Zach was a key part of this historic Tesla turnaround the last five years,” he adds. “That said, Tesla has a strong bench now.”
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