At a time when Indian-origin executives are holding high ranks in global companies like Google, Microsoft, Adobe, etc, a powerful addition to the list is Vaibhav Taneja– who is currently the CFO at Tesla. And more recently, Vaibhav Taneja is making the headlines for becoming one of the world’s most highly compensated CFO with an earnings of $139 million (INR 1200) in 2024– which is much more Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella!According to an ET report, Satya Nadella earned $79.1 million in 2024, while Sundar Pichai earned $10.73 million. This makes Vaibhav Taneja surpass these tech CEOS’ salaries by many folds. According to The Telegraph, Taneja’s earnings in 2024 are one of the highest recorded for CFOs in many years, which makes it quite a feat for him. No wonder then, Vaibhav Taneja’s rise on the global platform is an inspiration to many.Read on to know more about him here:
All about Vaibhav Taneja’s education qualifications and career rise
Vaibhav Taneja was born and raised in India, and he now lives in Austin, Texas, United States.Taneja has a degree in Commerce and he is a graduate from Delhi University (1996-1999); he then became a Chartered Accountant (CA) in 2000. He started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) where he worked for roughly 16 years, and then he joined SolarCity— a solar venture which was later acquired by Tesla– in 2016 as Vice President, Corporate Controller, as per his LinkedIn account.Taneja has been working with Tesla since May 2018, and in August 2023, he was made the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Tesla.Ironically, while Elon Musk remains the dominant force and public face of Tesla, he officially takes no salary from the company. In contrast, CFO Vaibhav Taneja’s earnings have soared, making headlines of their own. As Musk grabs attention with bold moves and statements, it’s Taneja quietly steering the financial ship— especially as investors grow more watchful of Tesla’s performance. His rising influence reflects a shift behind the scenes, where strong financial leadership has become just as crucial as visionary ambition.What are your views on Indian-origin people becoming high earning executives in the world? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
