[HN Gopher] Tesla, Inc. 8-k filing - CFO leaves Tesla
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Tesla, Inc. 8-k filing - CFO leaves Tesla
Author : freedude
Score : 47 points
Date : 2023-08-07 21:28 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bamsec.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bamsec.com)
| freedude wrote:
| Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Principal Officers; Election
| of Directors; Appointment of Principal Officers.
|
| As of August 4, 2023, Tesla, Inc. ("Tesla") appointed Vaibhav
| Taneja as Chief Financial Officer in addition to his current role
| as Chief Accounting Officer, to succeed Zachary Kirkhorn. Mr.
| Kirkhorn stepped down as of August 4, after a thirteen-year
| tenure with the company, the last four years of which he has
| served as Master of Coin and Chief Financial Officer. During his
| tenure, Tesla has seen tremendous expansion and growth. Tesla
| thanks Mr. Kirkhorn for his significant contributions. Mr.
| Kirkhorn will continue to serve Tesla through the end of the year
| to support a seamless transition.
|
| Prior to this appointment as CFO, Mr. Taneja, 45, served as
| Tesla's Chief Accounting Officer since March 2019, as Corporate
| Controller from May 2018, and as Assistant Corporate Controller
| between February 2017 and May 2018. Mr. Taneja served in various
| finance and accounting roles at SolarCity Corporation from March
| 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Taneja was employed at
| PricewaterhouseCoopers in both India and the U.S. between July
| 1999 and March 2016.
| bawolff wrote:
| For anyone else wondering, the master of the coin title is just
| musk being trying to be cute
| https://winteriscoming.net/2021/03/16/tesla-executive-offici...
| . For a moment i was wondering if that was an actual common
| corporate title.
| kccqzy wrote:
| Also mentioned in your link: He also named himself technoking
| in addition to CEO.
| justapassenger wrote:
| It was more of an attempt to get another day of media
| attention, and to make some bucks during crypto/investment
| craze of COVID times, by presenting themselves as a "cool
| company".
| toolz wrote:
| Maybe more charitably stated, it's a fun title to break the
| monotony of common titles. Surely just because we disagree
| with musk on other decisions we don't have to denigrate some
| harmless fun.
|
| I welcome the day where we treat business less seriously.
| TylerE wrote:
| I'm sure the reams of people Musk pushed out at his various
| companies are just rollin' in the aisles over that one.
| bluefishinit wrote:
| Or any of the Tesla workers that have been subject to the
| company's culture of racism:
| https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-03-25/black-
| tesl...
| andreygrehov wrote:
| People come, people leave. Why is that a big news?
| revel wrote:
| The CFO leaving is always a big deal. It can mean nothing but
| it can also mean a really spectacular blowup is about to take
| place.
| andreygrehov wrote:
| It's _always_ a big deal, but can also mean nothing? So, pure
| speculation?
| cududa wrote:
| The vast majority of the time it's a big deal, which makes
| it newsworthy. As well, any well run company would announce
| at least a few quarters in advance that the CFO is leaving.
|
| They don't abruptly quit or get fired after 13 years
| without something brewing
| andreygrehov wrote:
| With respect, I do not think this is a newsworthy case.
|
| > Mr. Kirkhorn will continue to serve Tesla through the
| end of the year to support a seamless transition.
|
| Absolutely zero things to discuss here.
| Kranar wrote:
| Actually the vast majority of the time it's not at all a
| big deal. The average tenure of a CFO among the S&P 500
| is 3.5 years. It's really not a big deal.
| asdfman123 wrote:
| Yes, this thread is obviously speculation. That's the
| purpose of it.
| Kranar wrote:
| That seems like a contradiction. How can something always be
| a big deal if it can mean nothing?
| conductr wrote:
| 13 years is a long tenure as CFO, on surface this means
| nothing.
| wpietri wrote:
| Exactly. Since CFOs are in charge of the numbers and can be
| legally on the hook for them [1], their departure always gets
| people to perk up a bit. Even if there isn't crime involved,
| when they guy who knows the financials best decides he'd
| rather be elsewhere, it can be a sign that there's a coming
| plateau or downturn.
|
| That's especially interesting in the case of Tesla, whose
| stock is down something like 40% from peak, and who is facing
| increasingly stiff competition from basically every automaker
| in the world.
|
| [1] e.g., "fraud by negligence":
| https://www.reuters.com/business/sec-charges-smart-window-
| ma...
| uberdru wrote:
| Revenue recognition around FSD has been incredibly dodgy. Just
| sayin'.
| bluefishinit wrote:
| And robotaxis never happened, and the cybertruck (hideous as it
| is) is years behind schedule... So much of Tesla's valuation is
| built on nothing more than empty Musk promises. The CFO seems
| like someone who will be taking a lot of heat when reality
| comes to roost. No wonder he's leaving.
| pdq wrote:
| Not good when a CFO abruptly resigns (or is fired). Usually
| companies project this quarters ahead to the public, with a soft
| notice that "XYZ will be retiring next year".
|
| Yes, Kirkhorn "will continue to serve Tesla through the end of
| the year to support a seamless transition", but this reads as a
| rush notice.
|
| His IR page is also gone:
|
| https://ir.tesla.com/corporate/zachary-kirkhorn
| dvt wrote:
| > Yes, Kirkhorn "will continue to serve Tesla through the end
| of the year to support a seamless transition", but this reads
| as a rush notice.
|
| I don't own any $TSLA (or one of their cars), but this is like
| the _opposite_ of a rush notice. Heck, he will continue working
| for Tesla for almost half the year. Seems like typical HN
| "everything Elon does is bad" bandwagoning.
|
| I mean, just earlier today the HP CFO resigned[1] and was
| replaced immediately.
|
| [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hewlett-packard-enterprise-
| cf...
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| He has worked at Tesla for 13 years. When would be the right
| time to go?
| NotYourLawyer wrote:
| 4 months seems like plenty of notice, and the opposite of a
| rush.
| Kranar wrote:
| Just to put things in context, the average tenure of a CFO
| among S&P 500 companies is 3.5 years.
|
| I don't think that's a big deal, but apparently people
| commenting here think a CFO departing is some kind of major
| signal of something. At any rate, it's at least worth knowing
| quantitatively that this happens once every 4 years or so.
| gabrielsroka wrote:
| https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/000095017023...
| zgluck wrote:
| That was 4 days ago and this is the first we hear of it?
|
| This - 9 hours ago:
|
| https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-cfo-kirkhorn-steps-down...
|
| _Tesla CFO Kirkhorn steps down, replaced by chief accounting
| officer Vaibhav Taneja_
|
| _Kirkhorn stepped down after a 13-year run at Tesla._
| mtmail wrote:
| Bottom of the 8-K document says "Date: August 7, 2023". So
| possibly (I'm not familiar with SEC filings) filed late
| Friday after business hours Aug/4h and then it got published
| by SEC Monday Aug/7th at start of business day?
| zgluck wrote:
| https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1688662299857321984
|
| _I would like to thank Zach Kirkhorn for his many contributions
| to Tesla over the course of 13 often difficult years._
|
| _Much appreciated and best wishes for the next stage of his
| career._
| LightBug1 wrote:
| https://nitter.net/elonmusk/status/1688662299857321984
|
| Still looks like a cesspool
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