Tesla CFO steps down: ‘working with Elon Musk is really hard’

Zach Kirkhorn has stepped down as the Chief Financial Officer of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA). Shares of the EV giant are down nearly 4.0% on Monday.

Tesla names Vaibhav Taneja its new CFO

Tesla also revealed to have named Vaibhav Taneja is new CFO in a regulatory filing this morning.

Still, Kirkhorn, it added, will remain with the company through the end of 2023 to streamline the transition. The departing executive wrote on LinkedIn today:

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.

Taneja, so far was serving as the Chief Accounting Officer of Tesla Inc. The EV stock is up roughly 125% for the year at writing.  

Gene Munster reacts to the news

Kirkhorn had assumed the role of Finance Chief at Tesla Inc in 2019.

Reason why he’s stepping down remains unclear for now. According to Gene Munster – the Managing Partner at Deepwater Asset Management, though:

He’ll be around until the end of year is evidence that this is for personal reasons – and the personal reason is likely that working with Elon Musk is really hard and he’s done it for 13 years.

The new CFO – Vaibhav Taneja was brought to Tesla after the multinational bought SolarCity for $2.6 billion in 2016. Last month, the Nasdaq-listed firm said its margins were hit again in the second quarter as Invezz reported here.