Tesla CFO Zach Kirkhorn's Resignation: The Underlying Factors

Good morning.

Over the past few weeks, there have been quite a few CFO changes at major companies. The latest news comes from Tesla.

"This is a big surprise to the Street," Dan Ives, a tech analyst at Wedbush Securities, tells me.

Zachary Kirkhorn, CFO and "master of coin" at the electric vehicle maker led by Elon Musk, has stepped down as of Aug. 4. But unlike several major companies that haven't named a permanent successor for the CFO role, Tesla also announced in the SEC filing the appointment of Vaibhav Taneja as CFO in addition to his current role as chief accounting officer. The company said in the filing that during Kirkhorn's tenure, "Tesla has seen tremendous expansion and growth." He will remain at the company through the end of the year to support the transition.

However, the document didn't discuss any reasons for Kirkhorn's departure. "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 said in a LinkedIn post on Monday. Kirkhorn thanked the employees at Tesla, and also thanked Musk for "his leadership and optimism, which has inspired so many people."

But Kirkhorn was being considered by Tesla's board as Musk's successor for the CEO position, the Wall Street Journal recently reported. So why has he now chosen to leave? I rounded up three theories on why Kirkhorn is moving on.

One theory—the heavy lifting at Tesla has been done.

This would be the most positive spin on Kirkhorn's move. He joined Tesla in March 2010 as a senior analyst in finance. When he took the CFO job in 2019, Tesla was valued at $50 billion, and today, it's worth $773 billion, Fortune reported. Before he became CFO, Tesla had a long history of losses and occasionally burned more than $1 billion of cash per quarter. With Kirkhorn as finance chief, Tesla has experienced profitability and in the last three years has repaid about $10 billion of debt, helping to secure investment-grade ratings. As Ives put it, "The heavy lifting at Tesla has been done."

"I believe he will likely be a CEO somewhere else in 2024," Ives says. However, "it's a blow in the near term as Zach was a key part of this historic Tesla turnaround the last five years," he adds. "That said, Tesla has a strong bench now."

You can read the whole story here.

Sheryl Estrada

[email protected]

Big deal

Amid credit tightening, private equity portfolio companies in the U.S. may be on course in 2023 to post the highest number of annual bankruptcy filings since 2010, a new analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence finds. In the first half of the year, 338 U.S. companies filed for bankruptcy protection, including 54 companies with private equity or venture capital backing. "At the current pace, bankruptcies by private equity portfolio companies are on track to total 108 by the end of 2023, a number that would exceed the 2020 total of 95 such bankruptcies and would be the highest since at least 2010," according to the report.

Going deeper

A new report by Mercer, a global consulting firm and a business of Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC), found the estimated aggregate funding level of pension plans sponsored by S&P 1500 companies increased by 2% in July 2023 to 107% as a result of an increase in equity markets and an increase in discount rates. As of July 31, the estimated aggregate surplus of $119 billion increased by $34 billion, as compared to a surplus of $85 billion measured at the end of June, according to Mercer.

Leaderboard

Tarek Robbiati, EVP and CFO at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE), has resigned from the company, effective Aug. 25. Robbiati is departing the company to accept the CEO role at RingCentral, Inc. HPE has named Jeremy Cox, SVP, corporate controller and chief tax officer, as interim CFO while the company and its board of directors conduct a search for a new CFO. Robbiati joined HPE as CFO in September 2018. During his tenure, the company increased its gross margins, operating profit margin, and free cash flow, and completed several strategic acquisitions, according to the announcement. Before joining HPE, he was CFO at Sprint Corp.

Jochen Goetz, CFO at Daimler Truck Holding AG, suddenly and unexpectedly died in a tragic accident at the age of 52, the company announced on Aug. 6. Goetz was a member of the board of management of Daimler Truck Holding AG since July 12, 2021, and responsible for finance and controlling, for the procurement of non-production materials and services, and IT. He was also a member of the board. "The death of Jochen Goetz is a tremendous loss for Daimler Truck, both personally and professionally," Martin Daum, chairman of the board of management of Daimler Truck Holding AG, said in the announcement. Goetz spent his entire professional career at the Daimler Group for over 36 years.

Overheard

"We believe that a structured hybrid approach—meaning employees who live near an office need to be on-site two days a week to interact with their teams—is most effective for Zoom."

—A spokesperson for Zoom Video Communications said in a statement to Insider regarding the company's announcement that employees living within 50 miles of a Zoom office must work there at least two days a week.