The Chief Financial Officer of Elon Musk’s Tesla, Zach Kirkhorn, has stepped down from his position after 13 years with the company. Musk announced that company executive Vaibhav Taneja will take over CFO duties at the end of the year.
CNBC reports that Tesla announced on Monday that CFO Zach Kirkhorn, has stepped down from his position, effective Friday. The automaker’s Chief Accounting Officer, Vaibhav Taneja, has been appointed as the new CFO and will hold both roles concurrently.
Elon Musk’s Halloween costume (Taylor Hill /Getty)
Kirkhorn’s departure was met with a negative market reaction as shares of Tesla dipped nearly three percent after the news but recovered to close down a little less than one percent on the day. Tesla shares have slipped again on Tuesday in intraday trading. The change in leadership marks the second CFO replacement at Tesla in just over four years.
In a statement on LinkedIn, Kirkhorn expressed 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.”
Kirkhorn had served as CFO since March 2019 and had been with Tesla since 2010. His successor, Taneja, has been with the automaker since 2017 and previously worked for SolarCity and PwC for about 17 years. Musk saved SolarCity from financial trouble, resulting in his entire board of directors facing a shareholder lawsuit.
Dan Ives, a tech analyst at Wedbush Securities, 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.”
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan