The World is Asking: Who is Vaibhav Taneja?
Tesla's chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja has been a trending topic since his pay package made headlines on Tuesday. The Indian-origin executive reportedly earned $139 million in 2024, significantly higher than the pay of top executives like Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Sundar Pichai of Google.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, paid a total salary of $10.73 million to Pichai while Nadella earned $79.1 million in 2024.
Experts pointed out that the jaw-dropping figure of $139 million is not the cash he takes home but includes the value of other means of remuneration. His base pay from Tesla amounted to $400,000 (₹3.33 crore). The rest of his earnings are derived from stock options and performance-based equity. Tesla shares were at $250 at the time of encashing equity benefits.
'For 2024, this headline figure included a cash remuneration of only $303,864,' said Dhruv Janssen-Sanghavi, international tax expert and founder of Janssen-Sanghavi & Associates.
'The other elements included an equity award and equity options. The value of these stocks on the day on which he acquires them over and above the discounted price he must pay for them would also count as his remuneration.'
Taneja's rise has been rapid since joining Elon Musk's electric carmaker in 2017, having worked at PwC and SolarCity before that. By 2019, he was Tesla's chief accounting officer, and in 2023, he became chief financial officer, taking charge of the company's global financial operations. He has been serving as CFO for over two years and has also been instrumental in drawing up Tesla's plans for India. In January 2021, he was appointed as a director for Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt Ltd, the company's official Indian subsidiary.
'I worked with Vaibhav when he was the chief accounting officer, which was his last role before being elevated as the CFO,' said Manuj Khurana, vice president at Ather Energy, who worked at Tesla from 2020 to 2022.
'He was always very calm, collected and grounded and had absolutely no airs. His approach was always very practical and that is something that is extremely necessary in a place like Tesla where things can change overnight. His rise is very much of a function of his ability as well as Tesla's meritocratic culture.'
Taneja took over as CFO after Zach Kirkhorn stepped down. An industry insider said Taneja was the 'obvious choice' at the time to take over, especially because Tesla as a company believes in promoting internally rather than hiring externally.
He is not the first Indian-origin CFO at Tesla. Deepak Ahuja was CFO from 2017 to 2019, after which he moved to Verily Life Sciences. He is now the CFO of American drone delivery firm Zipline.
The 47-year-old Taneja holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Delhi University (1999) and is a chartered accountant (2000) and a certified public accountant (2006). He joined Tesla from SolarCity, a solar energy company that Musk acquired in 2016. He spent the initial days at Tesla as an assistant corporate controller and eventually made his way up the ranks before reaching his current designation. Prior to this, Taneja spent 17 years at PwC, operating from both India and the US.
His meteoric rise is also opening up a conversation about how
Indian-origin executives
can look beyond tech and rise up the ranks of some of the top companies without necessarily having an engineering background, which has been a common factor among many top Indian executives, including Pichai and Nadella.
'We have seen many Indian-origin CEOs in Silicon Valley but increasingly we are seeing Indian-origin top executives helming corporates from diverse fields,' Indiaspora executive director Sanjeev Joshipura said. 'Vaibhav Taneja is one such example. Like several others, his success is inspiring for others in the Indian community in the US as it not only shows the power that the community holds but also reflects the Indian diaspora giving back to society.'
2017
Taneja joined Tesla from SolarCity after EV maker bought the latter.
2019
Became co's chief accounting officer.
2021
Appointed as director for Tesla India Motors .
2023
Assumed CFO's role.
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