Vaibhav Taneja, an Indian-origin executive and the Chief Financial Officer of Tesla, reportedly made an astounding $139 million in 2024. This amount much exceeded the yearly salary of prominent tech CEOs like Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. The startling amount was initially revealed by the Wall Street Journal and has garnered attention from the international business community, in part because it represents one of the largest compensation packages for a finance chief in decades.
Taneja, 47, who became CFO of Tesla in 2023, was paid a base salary of $400,000, but the vast majority of his pay came from equity awards and stock options that were given to him when he was promoted. These equity-linked incentives are set to vest over a four-year period and were granted while Tesla shares were trading at about $250. Despite the company’s recent reports of diminishing deliveries and shrinking earnings, Tesla’s stock was selling at about $342 as of May 19, 2025.
According to Microsoft’s 2025 proxy statement submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Satya Nadella received $79.106 million in 2024 as part of his compensation package as the company’s chairman and CEO. In contrast, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet, earned $10.73 million during that time. Taneja’s 2024 salary surpassed both, surpassing even the previous record set by the CFO of Nikola Corporation, who made $86 million in 2020 before to the company’s bankruptcy in 2024.
Taneja’s enormous compensation occurred during a period of significant upheaval for Tesla. Long considered a leader in the sector, the electric car maker has experienced a significant slowdown in sales, pressure on its profit margin, and growing competition from around the world. Additionally, Tesla revealed its biggest yearly sales drop since 2012. The difficulties have been exacerbated by the controversy surrounding CEO Elon Musk, who has been the target of criticism for his conduct while leading the contentious Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration.