Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn steps down after 13 years with company
Tesla Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn is departing after 13 years with the the electric vehicle and solar panel maker.
Kirkhorn stepped down Friday but will remain with Tesla through the end of the year to "support a seamless transition," according to the Austin, Texas, company.
Shares of Tesla Inc. slipped 2.4% in Monday afternoon trading amid a broader sell-off in the electric vehicle sector. Rivian fell 4.6% and Lucid fell 4.5%.
Vaibhav Taneja was named CFO in addition to his current role as chief accounting officer, the company said in a regulatory filing Monday.
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Referred to as the Master of Coin in his bio on the company's website, Kirkhorn has been CFO at Tesla since March 2019, succeeding Deepak Ahuja. He has served in various roles at Tesla since March 2010.
The filing gave no reason for the departure, but said Tesla has experienced tremendous growth during Kirkhorn's tenure.
Tesla reported net income of $2.7 billion in Q2 of this year, a 20% increase from a year ago. While its profit margin fell just over 1% as a result of price cuts on vehicles, initiated in January, to boost sales amid increasing competition, the company still managed to beat analyst expectations.
"Being a part of this company is a special experience and I'm extremely proud of the work we've done together since I joined over 13 years ago," Kirkhorn wrote in a LinkedIn post on Monday. He did not respond to a message seeking further comment.
Kirkhorn has sold more than $6 million worth of Tesla stock this year, either as part of a prearranged trading plan or to satisfy tax obligations on vesting stock options, according to company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Taneja, 45, has been chief accounting officer since March of 2019, and served as controller since May of 2018.
Ongoing auto-pilot safety issues
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration earlier this month opened yet another investigation into safety problems with Tesla vehicles. The probe, the fifth started by the agency into Tesla vehicles in the past three years, is part of a larger investigation by the NHTSA into multiple instances of Teslas on Autopilot crashing into parked emergency vehicles that are tending to other crashes.