Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer, Indian-origin Vaibhav Taneja, reportedly earned an extraordinary $139 million in 2024, surpassing the annual compensation of high-profile technology CEOs, including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai.
After the Wall Street Journal first reported the staggering sum, Taneja came to the limelight across the global business community.
A whopping $139.5 million compensation package in 2024 made the 47-year-old Taneja the highest-paid CFO in the world.
His base salary was just $400,000, however, Tesla’s share price rose from $250 to $342 by May 2025, turning Taneja’s equity deal into a gold mine.
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Who is Vaibhav Taneja?
Vaibhav Taneja is a Delhi University commerce graduate and Chartered Accountant who started his career in 1999 as an articleship trainee at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in India.
He climbed the ranks at PwC over 17 years, working across India and the U.S.
In 2016, Taneja joined SolarCity as VP and Corporate Controller. When Tesla acquired the company, he stayed on, quickly advancing: from Assistant Corporate Controller in 2017 to Corporate Controller in 2018, Chief Accounting Officer in 2019, and finally CFO in 2023, replacing longtime executive Zach Kirkhorn.
The Indian-origin executive also holds the role of Director of Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt. Ltd., and has been a central figure in shaping Tesla’s India strategy—an increasingly key market for the EV giant.
Known for his quiet competence, Taneja is considered a steady, strategic leader with deep expertise in financial operations and corporate integration.
Satya Nadella earned $79.106 million in 2024 as part of his compensation package as Microsoft’s Chairman and CEO, according to the company’s 2025 proxy statement filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On the other hand, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai received $10.73 million during the same period.
Vaibhav Taneja’s 2024 compensation surpassed both IT titans and even broke the previous record set by Nikola Corporation’s CFO, who earned $86 million in 2020 before the company filed for bankruptcy in 2024.
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