Tesla’s recent crop of setbacks in its home country may have put stakeholders in a state of doubt but its top brass seem to be doing well. The company’s Indian-origin CFO Vaibhav Taneja has been all over the news lately owing to his overall earnings reported in 2024. Taneja went on to earn more than any other senior leadership in 2024, as far as the statistics are concerned.
Taneja went on to secure a very high compensation package for 2024 and based on inputs from analysts, the figure breaks all records! In 2024, Taneja was reported to secure total earnings of $139 million (approximately Rs 1,157 crores) – a figure that’s second to none! Not even any of his fellow Indian-origin leaders in the Silicon Valley.
Indian-origin Tesla CFO earns the most in corporate history
While his record-breaking earnings have garnered attention from all across the globe, a deeper dive into his salary breakdown reveals how he achieved that figure. Spoiler alert: it isn’t solely based on the salary he draws from Tesla.
Vaibhav Taneja’s base salary withdrawn from Tesla amounted to $400,000 (approximately Rs 3.33 crores). The rest of his earnings are derived from various stock options and other performance-based equity, especially in Tesla’s stocks. Tesla shares were at $250 at the time of encashing the equity benefits, thus helping Taneja reap profits.
With a total compensation of $139 million, Tesla’s current CFO surpassed other top brass of the Silicon Valley as far as 2024 earnings were concerned. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, paid a total salary of $10.73 million in the same time period. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella managed to earn $79.1 million in 2024, which wasn’t close to Taneja’s total earnings.
A peek into Taneja’s career background
Aged 47, Vaibhav Taneja earned his Bachelor’s of Commerce degree from the University of Delhi and professionally stepped into the Chartered Accountant arena. He began his journey with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and remained with them for 17 years, operating from both India and the US. In 2016, Taneja moved to SolarCity Corporation, a firm acquired later by Tesla. 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.
Taneja also serves as the director of Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited – the arm responsible for bringing the company’s innovative cars to the Indian shores.
