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Reports say Vaibhav Taneja’s 2024 compensation included a base salary of $400,000 (approximately Rs 3.44 crore), with most of it coming from stock options and equity awards
Vaibhav Taneja is instrumental in facilitating Tesla’s entry into the Indian market. (News18 Hindi)
Indian talent continues to garner global recognition, with prominent figures such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen leading some of the world’s top companies. Recently, another name has emerged, overshadowing even these giants in terms of compensation.
Vaibhav Taneja, currently the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Tesla, earned an astounding salary in 2024 that outstripped the remuneration packages of his high-profile peers. Taneja’s total earnings for the year amounted to an impressive $139 million (approximately Rs 1,195.4 crore), surpassing Google CEO Pichai’s package by 13 times and doubling Microsoft CEO Nadella’s compensation.
According to reports, Taneja’s 2024 compensation included a basic salary of $400,000 (around Rs 3.44 crore), with the majority comprising stock options and equity awards. This substantial package was granted despite Tesla experiencing its lowest sales in 13 years. In comparison, Satya Nadella received a total salary package of $79.1 million (around Rs 680 crore) in 2024, while Sundar Pichai’s salary stood at $10.7 million (approximately Rs 92 crore).
Taneja’s journey began at Delhi University, where he earned a degree in commerce before pursuing chartered accountancy. He trained and worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in India before moving to the United States in July 1999. In March 2016, he joined SolarCity Corporation, a solar panel manufacturing company in America, as part of the finance and accounting team.
Taneja’s entry into Tesla came when the company acquired SolarCity in 2016. He started as a corporate controller in 2017, quickly rising to the position of Chief Accounting Officer from March 2019 to 2023.
Currently serving as Tesla’s CFO for the past two years, Taneja is instrumental in facilitating Tesla’s entry into the Indian market, having been appointed director of Tesla’s Indian firm in January 2021.
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