Turns out that managing the finances of the main asset of the world’s richest person can be a lucrative gig.
Zachary Kirkhorn, who stepped down as Tesla Inc.’s chief financial officer on Monday, amassed a net worth of $590 million during his four-year stint in the role, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The number comprises mainly Tesla shares and options he received as compensation.
Still, the fortune accumulated by the carmaker’s outgoing designated “master of coins” pales in comparison to that of CEO and “technoking” Elon Musk, whose $230.6 billion net worth is the largest in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Kirkhorn and other Tesla executives weren’t included in the enormous moonshot pay package that the Tesla board awarded Musk in 2018, which accelerated his trajectory to the top of the global wealth rankings.
Aside from a batch of options, which have a net value of about $550 million, Kirkhorn’s compensation was comparatively modest: $300,000 in base salary in 2022 and $31,099 in previously accrued paid time off that was applied toward the purchase of a Tesla, according to the company’s most recent proxy filing.
It’s not clear what Kirkhorn will do next. The Harvard and University of Pennsylvania-educated engineer, who’s in his late 30s, has worked for Musk at Tesla since 2010 and was regarded by analysts as a calm and measured counterpoint to his bombastic boss on earnings calls. Prior to joining the auto company he worked as an analyst at McKinsey & Co. and interned at Microsoft Corp.
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