Tesla finance VP departs after 17 years

Sendil Palani said in a social media post that he would depart Tesla after 17 years and step down as vice president of finance.

Palani had been vice president of finance since 2021 and previously held roles in finance, engineering, and manufacturing across two stints at the company.

Elon Musk replied to Palani’s post and thanked him for his contribution.

The departure comes as Tesla shifts its focus to artificial intelligence projects including robotaxis and humanoid robots, while its core EV sales fell for a second straight year amid sluggish demand in the US, rising competition and a consumer backlash to Musk’s work for the Trump administration.

Other recent exits at Tesla include Omead Afshar, David Lau, Milan Kovac, and Troy Jones, with Jones succeeded by Raj Jegannathan.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

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The executive exodus at Tesla runs deep

The departure tally leaves out other senior leaders who recently exited, including former senior vice president for energy engineering and powertrain Andrew Baglino and former CFO Zachary Kirkhorn 1.
Data puts the share at about 66% of CEO Elon Musk’s direct reports who have left since 2021 2.
Raj Jegannathan, named as a successor to a prior executive, has also said he is leaving Tesla after 13 years at the company 3.

Tesla’s leadership is turning over during its riskiest pivot yet

The exits line up with a big spending plan, with Tesla planning more than $20 billion in 2026 capital spending aimed at autonomy (self-driving), humanoid robots, plus AI compute (the specialized computing infrastructure used to train and run AI models) 4.
The plan includes winding down production of established vehicles such as the Model S and Model X while it prioritizes Optimus humanoid robot production 5.
The outlay comes while the main business shrinks, with vehicle deliveries down 8.6% and overall revenue down 3% last year 6.