Dive Brief:

• Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold $1.1 million in stock in his latest sale this week, bringing the total value of shares sold between January and December to date to more than $19 million, according to company filings.
• Taneja, a veteran of the Austin, Texas-based electric vehicle maker who became CFO in 2023, made many of the sales as part of a trading arrangement he adopted effective May 1, 2024 which had an expiration date of July 31 of this year. That agreement allowed for the potential sale of 84,000 shares in common stock, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 20, 24.
• In total sales to date for the calendar year, Taneja has sold about 58,480 shares, representing just over $19 million, according to data calculated from the filings. 

Dive Insight:

Taneja’s sales, which typically averaged between $1 million to $2 million a month, came after the finance chief received a $139 million compensation package in 2024 — making him one of the highest-paid executive officers of the EV company. The pay package was largely comprised of an equity award, CFO Dive reported at the time, consisting of approximately $113 million in stock options and $26 million in stock awards.

The sales also occurred throughout what became a tumultuous year for the EV maker, which faced threats to its status at the top of the electric vehicle industry as it fielded blowback from both consumers and shareholders over CEO Elon Musk’s activities with the Trump administration, shifting tariff and trade policies, and rising competition from other EV players.

Telsa’s market share dropped to an eight-year low ahead of the company’s third quarter earnings call in October, with sales of Tesla’s EVs accounting for 38% of total U.S. EV sales for August — the first time that percentage dropped below 40% since October 2027, Reuters reported, citing a Cox Automotive report.  

The EV maker also faced dropping profits. Both Musk and Taneja warned of rough quarters to come during its second quarter earnings call in July; meanwhile, while Tesla reported a 12% jump in revenue year-over-year for its third quarter, its operating income slipped down by 40% to reach $1.6 billion, while net income attributable to common shareholders fell by 37%.

In the face of weak sales, slumping profits, and rising regulatory attention, Tesla shareholders increased their scrutiny on CEO Elon Musk during the latter half of the year in the lead up to the EV maker’s annual shareholder meeting in November — where shareholders were asked to vote on a contentious “say on pay” proposal to grant Musk a pay package with a potential $1 trillion value, CFO Dive previously reported.

While not binding, say on pay proposals can serve as a temperature check on shareholders’ views on executive compensation and the current course of leadership. Part of a years-long tug-of-war between shareholders and Musk regarding pay, the $1 trillion proposal drew criticism from both investors and consumers. Though shareholders ultimately voted in favor of the proposal, which requires Musk to create $7.5 trillion in shareholder value to receive the full performance award, it received less support than the 2018 package presented to investors, CNBC reported.

During Tesla’s third quarter earnings call on Oct. 22, just a few weeks prior to the meeting, Taneja endorsed the package and urged shareholders to vote for the say on pay proposal, stating the EV maker’s special committee “did an amazing job in constructing this plan for the benefit of the shareholders.”  

The endorsement struck some as unusual: Charles Elson, founding director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, noted a CEO’s pay is out of the CFO’s domain, and so doesn’t tend to arise on earnings calls, he told CFO Dive at the time.

However, “you also have to figure if they’re going to give Mr. Musk that kind of amount, the CFO can’t be that far behind. Maybe he’s hoping to get something similar,” Elson said at the time.