Zachary Kirkhorn, the previous chief accounting officer of the automobile and clean energy company Tesla, announced his resignation on Monday. Vaibhav Taneja, 45, was subsequently named as his replacement.
In addition to his position as chief accounting officer, Taneja, who is originally from India, will assume the position known as “Master of Coin”.
Vaibhav Taneja: Who is he?
Vaibhav Taneja is a University of Delhi alumni who earned a B.Com. in 1999. As of March 2019, he serves as Tesla’s chief operating officer. Since May 2018, he has served as the business’s corporate controller. The financial expert had previously worked for the American solar panel manufacturer SolarCity Corporation, which Tesla acquired in 2016. Taneja was the company’s vice president and eventually its corporate controller. He oversaw the accounting teams from both businesses’ successful integration.
During the period from February 2017 to May 2018, he also worked for Tesla as the Assistant Corporate Controller.
PREVIOUS WORKS
He worked at SolarCity in a variety of accounting and finance positions starting in March 2016.
Taneja spent around 17 years in the ‘Big Four’ company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) before joining SolarCity in 2016 when Tesla acquired the solar panel manufacturer for $2.6 billion.
Taneja has previously held positions in the communication, retail, and technology industries.
VAIBHAV TANEJA AT TESLA
Vaibhav Taneja quickly progressed from strength to strength at Tesla. In January 2021, the Indian division of the business, Tesla India Motors, and Energy Private Limited nominated him as a director. The entrepreneur faces a difficult task in his role as CFO given the issues of declining electric car prices, fierce competition from Chinese e-vehicle manufacturers like BYD, and a quickly evolving automotive industry.
Zachary Kirkhorn had been the chief accounting officer during a time of “tremendous expansion and growth,” Tesla claimed in a document. To guarantee a smooth transition, Kirkhorn will work for the company through the end of the year.
Days after Tesla released its Q2 2023 earnings report, there has been a shift. The manufacturer of electric vehicles reported record-breaking quarterly sales of $24.93 billion. However, the business’ operational income, which was $2.40 billion, was down 3% from the same quarter a year earlier. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, has said that the business will keep 1.8 million vehicle deliveries as its goal for this year, but production may decline in the third quarter.
