Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer, received a staggering $139 million in total compensation in 2024, making him the highest-paid CFO since modern disclosure standards began in 2006. This figure surpasses the annual earnings of prominent tech CEOs, including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella ($79.1 million) and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai ($10.73 million).
Taneja’s compensation package primarily comprised stock options and equity awards granted after his promotion to CFO in August 2023. His base salary was a comparatively modest $400,000. The equity awards were valued at approximately $113 million in stock options and $26 million in stock awards, set to vest over four years.
Despite challenges such as a 13% drop in global vehicle deliveries in the first quarter of 2025 and a 71% decline in net profit, Tesla’s stock price has shown resilience, trading at approximately $342 as of May 19, 2025.
Taneja, 47, joined Tesla in 2017 after serving at SolarCity, a solar energy company that Tesla had acquired. He holds a commerce degree from the University of Delhi and is a certified Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
His unprecedented compensation underscores Tesla’s aggressive executive compensation strategy and highlights Taneja’s significant role in the company’s financial management amid a competitive and evolving automotive industry.
