The Tesla executive who was rumored to be next in line for CEO is leaving the company
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- Tesla's CFO Zachary Kirkhorn is leaving the carmaker, the company said in a regulatory filing.
- Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported Kirkhorn could be Elon Musk's successor at Tesla.
- Kirkhorn has worked at the electric-car maker for about 13 years.
Tesla said its chief financial officer, Zachary Kirkhorn, is leaving the company after working for the electric-car maker for about 13 years.
The EV company acknowledged that Kirkhorn, who had served as CFO for about three years, would be replaced by Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla's chief accounting officer, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that was made public on Monday. The carmaker said Kirhorn would assist in the transition through the end of the year.
Kirhorn confirmed his departure on LinkedIn.
"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," he wrote. "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. I also want to thank Elon for his leadership and optimism, which has inspired so many people."
Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Kirkhorn could be the next CEO of Tesla. The publication said that board members at the company had considered the CFO as a successor to Elon Musk and that Kirkhorn's name was mentioned before a trial last year over Musk's $44 billion Tesla pay package.
During the trial, Tesla board member James Murdoch said that Musk had identified a potential successor within the months leading up to the trial, but the board member did not specify who Musk had suggested.
In May, the Journal compared Musk's relationship with Kirkhorn to the connection between Apple cofounder Steve Jobs and the company's current CEO, Tim Cook, inasmuch as both Jobs and Musk have been willing to take "risky bets" in order to build their companies, while Cook and Kirkhorn appear to have taken a more cautious approach and have helped keep the companies in balance.
Kirkhorn won Musk's approval by telling him the "bad news" first and staying in the billionaire's shadow, Tesla staff told the Journal at the time. The publication said Kirkhorn also often stepped in as a mediator between Musk and other staff at Tesla.
Kirkhorn first started out as senior analyst at the car company in 2010, per his LinkedIn profile. He took over as CFO from Deepak Ahuja in 2019 and over the past four years Tesla's value has surged. Prior to joining Tesla he worked as an analyst at McKinsey & Company, as well as interned at Microsoft, his profile shows.
The company is expected to have a busy quarter in the coming months. Musk has said the company plans to begin deliveries of its highly anticipated Cybertruck by the end of the year.
It's unclear whether Kirkhorn might transition to a role at another one of Musk's companies as the billionaire has been known to bring in staff from Tesla or SpaceX to help at his other companies, including X, formerly Twitter. Last year, Musk moved Omead Afshar, on of his righthand men at Tesla, to SpaceX.
Kirkhorn, Musk, and a spokesperson for Tesla did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.
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