Salary meter: Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella lag behind Tesla's Indian-origin CFO 

Tesla’s CFO, Vaibhav Taneja, has made headlines by securing one of the highest compensation packages in corporate history, amounting to a remarkable $139 million (approximately Rs 1,157 crore) in 2024. This massive total reflects his earnings predominantly from stock options and equity awards following his promotion in 2023, placing him above several well-known technology leaders.

Taneja’s base salary for the year was $400,000 (about Rs 3.33 crore) but the bulk of his earnings stemmed from performance-based equity, which is linked to the impressive rise in Tesla’s stock price. The shares soared from around $250 (roughly Rs 20,800) at the time he received his equity grant to $342 (approximately Rs 28,400) as of May 19, 2025, despite existing challenges regarding electric vehicle deliveries and profit margins.

When comparing compensation, Taneja has surpassed Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, who earned $79.1 million (around Rs 658 crore), and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, whose salary total stood at $10.73 million (around Rs 89 crore) during the same timeframe. Notably, Taneja’s exceptional payout has broken previous records for CFOs, outdoing the $86 million (Rs 715 crore) compensation received by Nikola’s finance chief in 2020, before the company’s eventual bankruptcy in 2024.

Taneja’s ascent into this elite tier of corporate executives highlights his influence, particularly regarding the aggressive compensation strategies at Tesla. His extraordinary pay underscores the increasing recognition of CFOs as powerful leaders within the tech sector.

Vaibhav Taneja, 47, is a Chartered Accountant and earned his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Delhi. He began his professional journey at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he spent 17 years working in India and the United States from 1999 to 2016.

In 2016, Taneja joined SolarCity Corporation, which was later acquired by Tesla. He played a pivotal role in integrating the financial operations of both organisations. His tenure at Tesla began in 2017 as Assistant Corporate Controller, followed by promotions to Corporate Controller in 2018 and Chief Accounting Officer in 2019.

He also serves as director of Tesla’s Indian subsidiary, Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited, appointed in 2021. Taneja was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in August 2023, a position that paved the way for his record-setting compensation.

Despite the operational challenges facing Tesla, Taneja’s impressive earnings illustrate the power of equity-based incentives in executive compensation, particularly those linked to stock performance.