Tesla CFO and company veteran Zack Kirkhorn quits

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Zack Kirkhorn, a member of Elon Musk's inner circle at Tesla, has surprisingly resigned from his position as chief financial officer. This comes as the electric-vehicle manufacturer faces the challenges of reducing expenses and safeguarding its profits amidst a series of price reductions.

According to an official statement released by the company on Monday, Vaibhav Taneja, who had held the position of chief accounting officer since 2019, took over the top finance position on Friday. The company also announced that Kirkhorn, the former finance head, would remain in his role until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition and expressed gratitude for his valuable contributions.

Tesla's CFO, Zachary Kirkhorn, is stepping down, marking a departure after a relatively stable period in the company's senior positions. Previously, Tesla had experienced frequent changes in its executive team. Kirkhorn, who has been with the company for 13 years, assumed the role of CFO four years ago and has successfully led the company's financial recovery. During his tenure, Tesla's annual free cash flow grew from a level of nearly breaking even to exceeding $7 billion in the previous year.

The value of Tesla's stocks has increased by ten times since 2019 after successfully resolving manufacturing issues with its Model 3 sedan and achieving the delivery of 1.3 million vehicles in 2022.

Tesla did not provide any hint that Kirkhorn would be resigning when he spoke alongside Musk during the company's most recent earnings conference call with Wall Street, which occurred less than three weeks ago. During the call, Kirkhorn emphasized his intense focus on reducing costs in the short-term, with the objective of generating funds for investment. This is in anticipation of Tesla's forthcoming phase of growth, marked by the highly anticipated release of its Cybertruck and the establishment of a new manufacturing facility in Mexico.

Kirkhorn had a keen attention to operational specifics while presenting and discussing Tesla's earnings, which helped assure investors that the company had moved past its previous difficulties in production. His calm and precise manner served as a contrast to Musk's spontaneous financial remarks, often leading him to interpret and convey them in a way that Wall Street could grasp more easily.

When Musk made public last month that Tesla planned to allocate $1 billion towards the Dojo supercomputer by the conclusion of next year, Kirkhorn intervened to clarify that those figures included both research and development expenses as well as capital expenditure. Additionally, he mentioned that the company had provided a three-year forecast for capital spending. Kirkhorn also emphasized that progress was being made rapidly, and Tesla would keep revising its guidance to reflect these expenses.

Taneja became a part of Tesla when it acquired SolarCity, which is Elon Musk's solar energy company, in 2017. Prior to joining SolarCity, Taneja had been associated with PwC for a period of 17 years, working both in India and the United States.