Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, has revealed his plans to enter politics in the United States. Unconfirmed reports suggested that Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla’s finance chief, might become the treasurer for the upcoming political party. Two months ago, the Indian-origin executive had made headlines for a different reason altogether — his salary package.
Vaibhav Taneja completed his Bachelor of Commerce from Delhi University in 1999 and became a chartered accountant in 2000. He worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers for close to 17 years. He has spent over eight years at Tesla, working in several positions before becoming the EV giant’s Chief Financial Officer in August 2023.
While it isn’t confirmed if he will be the treasurer of Musk’s party, it is confirmed that Taneja is one of the most trusted employees of the world’s richest person. Taneja reportedly receiveda salary package of a whopping $139 million (around Rs 1189 crore) last year.
The amount is more than most chief executives and the highest pay ever paid to a CFO. In 2020, Nikola had paid a salary package of $86 million to Nikola, the hydrogen-based truck maker, which filed for bankruptcy this year.
Taneja, 47, joined Tesla in 2017.
Taneja’s compensation was tied to stock options and equity awards he received in October 2024 that recognized his promotion to CFO in August 2023, reported The Wall Street Journal in May.
Taneja’s income in 2024 was greater than Google’s Sundar Pichai and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella. While Pichai earned $10.73 million, Nadella’s 2024 payout was $79.1 million.
Elon Musk’s party
Weeks after a public fallout with Donald Trump, Elon Musk last week announced a political party.Donald Trump shrugged off Elon Musk’s plans as “ridiculous”.
The party was launched in the wake ofTrump signing into law a sprawling domestic policy bill that the tech mogul has slammed over the apprehension that it will balloon the deficit.
Elon Musk’s net worth is $393.1 billion. He spent millions of dollars helping Trump become the US President for the second time.