Former Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn to Walk Away With Nearly $600 Million

Outgoing Tesla Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn, who abruptly departed the company on Monday, hasn't indicated his next move, but he has plenty of cash to hold him over until he finds his next job.

The former executive — or “master of coin,” as he is listed in SEC filings — is walking away with a net worth of roughly $590 million, according to a review of securities filings by Bloomberg.

Kirkhorn joined Tesla as a senior analyst in 2010 and gradually rose through the ranks before being named CFO in 2019.

While his base salary was a modest-by-comparison $300,000 a year at the time of his departure, Kirkhorn has stock holdings and other options worth around $550 million, Bloomberg calculated.

He has sold small portions of his Tesla shares at various points during his tenure, Securities and Exchange Commission filings show.

Most recently he sold 3,750 shares valued at $261 each on Aug. 8.

Those transactions along with his stock holdings and other benefits came to $590 million, Bloomberg found.

Tesla stock fell 4% on the news that Kirkhorn was stepping down. 

A Wall Street Journal article earlier this year said he guided the company to profitability. The former executive was seen as a possible successor to Tesla owner Elon Musk and a moderating presence around his bombastic and often unpredictable boss.

Tesla was worth $50 billion when Kirkhorn was named CFO; it now has a market capitalization of $782 billion.

Vaibhav Taneja, the company’s current head of accounting, will take over as CFO, and also remain in his current role.