Yesterday Tesla announced that their CFO, Zachary Kirkhorn would depart
Tesla
In a surprising turn of events, Tesla's CFO, Zachary Kirkhorn, known to many as the 'Master of Coin', has announced his resignation. Like any business, small or large, people come and go. But this isn't an average person at a normal company. Kirkhorn was deep in the trenches from the early days of the little start-up electric car company, and his departure leaves us only to speculate what happened and what happens now both at Tesla and for Kirkhorn.
Tesla Today and into the Future
The short answer to what happens now is Kirkhorn will stay on until the end of the year; however, his responsibilities have been handed over to Vaibhav Taneja, Tesla's Chief Accounting Officer since 2019 after joining the company in 2017 following the purchase of SolarCity.
Kirkhorn is going out with his head held high and still a true believer in Tesla's vision, as he is sticking around for four more months to help with the transition. In his LinkedIn post, which he only publicly posts about once a year, he said:
Being a part of this company is a special experience and I’m extremely proud of the work we’ve done together since I joined over 13 years ago.
Reason for Leaving is Unknown
There are no clues about what is next for Kirkhorn or why he is leaving. So, that would lead many to believe there must've been an issue at the top, Elon Musk. While that is certainly not out of the realm of possibility, both men seemed to be playing nice on social media. Kirkhorn stated on Linkedin, "I want to thank the talented, passionate, and hard-working employees at Tesla, who have accomplished things many thought not possible. I also want to thank Elon for his leadership and optimism, which has inspired so many people."
Musk posted on X.com, "I would like to thank Zach Kirkhorn for his many contributions to Tesla over the course of 13 often difficult years. Much appreciated, and best wishes for the next stage of his career."
Kirkhorn replaced Deepak Ahuja who left Tesla in 2019. Ahuja had been in the CFO role since 2010 the same year Kirhorn joined Tesla. Kirkhorn's rise through the ranks was both meteoric and pivotal. Serving in various capacities, including Senior Manager, Director, and Senior Director, he assumed the role of CFO in March 2019.
The Succession Plan
Succession at Tesla has been a concern for years, and it should be. We saw what happened when Musk bought Twitter and split his attention - the stock sank. We can only imagine what was happening behind the scenes. Still, when Musk committed to putting his attention back to Tesla, he implemented a hiring freeze and said all major personal decisions had to go through him.
Kirkhorn would've been on everyone's bingo card as a shortlist candidate to be the next CEO at Tesla, as his impact on the company's trajectory is indisputable. During his tenure, Kirkhorn played an essential role in transforming Tesla from a company fraught with losses to a consistently profitable enterprise. His expertise has been instrumental in Tesla's first quarterly profit, achieving a market valuation of over $1 trillion and strategizing the launch of products like Model 3 and the anticipated Cybertruck.
Kirkhorn's dedication to the company was undoubtedly monumental and likely far bigger than we will ever know, but he is replaceable. Just as we saw with the departure of Andrej Karpathy, the leader of the Full Self-Driving department, the company will continue. It's been a highly sought-after company for many bright minds to work at, and that kind of talent pool will help when the big players leave. But Tesla still has to come up with an answer for the succession plan for Elon Musk.
Elon Musk has always been a bit of a celebrity and not always one that has been well received. With his many different companies - including Tesla, SpaceX, Boring, Neuralink, X, and xAI, he’s spread throughout many high-tech fields and has a massive say in the way technology impacts the lives of many.
Most recently, Elon has taken to the fore of the US government under the Trump Administration and is running the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Here, he’s been tasked with reducing government spending.
These moves, in addition to what looked like an inappropriate hand gesture at a Republican rally last year, have led to him being labeled a Nazi - and those who own his cars or support his companies - as Nazi sympathizers. This is particularly true for Cybertruck owners.
We’re not calling for Elon to step down or stop - that’s beyond the scope of this opinion piece. Instead, we’re hoping that we make a point - harming real people and their property is a step too far, especially when they haven’t done anything other than spend their money or choose their place of employment.
Few CEOs are as active in politics as Elon is - and that’s made him and his companies the targets of protestors who don't agree with the changes and policies. This has led to boycotts of Tesla, protests outside factories, Supercharger sites, and showrooms.
Interestingly, some protestors at several locations throughout the United States have admitted they are being paid to protest. This isn’t surprising or new - political activist organizations sometimes bring in paid protestors to pad crowd numbers or guide the protestors toward their goals. While we can’t say whether this is true or not at this time, Elon appears to believe so, as per a post on X on the 8th of March.
Some of the protests have descended into violence, which has likely been escalated by people in a crowd mentality. An example of this is the incident at Tesla’s NYC Meatpacking showroom - where the crowd attempted to break down the doors and enter the showroom, putting the lives of innocent employees and customers at risk.
While protesting is a right, harming others and harming private property is not, regardless of personal beliefs or political opinions. This is what we’d like to emphasize here - harming or threatening Tesla’s employees and their customers isn’t making for a better world - it is hurting real people - members of your community. Some of them may have stood in solidarity with you just mere months ago at the voting booths, but now the simple ownership of a Tesla vehicle is considered extreme.
Vandalism and Who It Impacts
The protests are really just the tip of the iceberg. There have been ongoing and escalating incidents of vandalism - both at Tesla’s showrooms and Superchargers, as well as of private vehicles.
Vandalism is a crime - full stop. Attacking others and their private property with the intent to harm them isn’t an effective means to portray a message - it is political violence. Harming others is never the correct option - and is the worst way to push your message.
Vandalism of a private vehicle doesn't hurt Tesla. That vehicle will be repaired with parts sold by Tesla, paid for by the owner’s insurance. Those insurance costs will be passed down to customers everywhere - whether they’re Tesla-specific or not. Tesla will have made money replacing parts or replacing a vehicle because nearly 70% of Tesla’s customers continue to buy Tesla.
The vandalism isn’t focused on just private vehicles either - much of it has hit Tesla’s showrooms - which have been shot at in the US - and one was even burned down overnight in France. These vandals have also been targeting Tesla’s lots - and damaging cars on their way to customers. Once again, Tesla is insured against all of this - and will only be making replacement vehicles and fixing the damage - just like they did with the arson incident at a Supercharger site - where they replaced the Supercharger in under 48 hours.
Superchargers are public charging infrastructure. Damaging them doesn’t just affect Tesla owners - it impacts all EV drivers. Many Supercharger sites are open to other electric vehicles and serve as a vital charging option, especially in remote areas where charging options may be limited.
Additionally, some Supercharger stations are sometimes partially or fully funded by government grants aimed at expanding EV infrastructure. Acts of vandalism only harm local communities by undermining efforts to build essential public resources.
Sales and Stock
Tesla’s stock and sales have also been hit hard by the recent boycotts and response to Elon’s political activity.
Several analysts are predicting that Tesla’s deliveries in Q1 2025 are expected to be the lowest in the last three years - which will likely be a big hit. On the flipside, Elon is still optimistic about the stock - and has mentioned that the long-term benefits of holding Tesla far outweigh the short-term tensions.
However, Tesla’s stock also swings heavily with the market and is one of the most actively traded stocks by retail investors - both regular stocks and options included. The US markets have been on a relatively downward trend, with the Trump administration telling people to tighten their belts and prepare for a potential recession in the coming months.
These indicators aren’t very clear - and the ramp of the refreshed Model Y will have an impact on sales as Tesla won’t be able to deliver as many vehicles as they normally do.
Musk Owns Only 12% of Tesla
At the end of the day, these protests and all this vandalism only serve one purpose. It hurts hardworking citizens of the countries these events are happening in - whether the United States, Canada, Germany, France, or others.
They don’t impact Elon as much because he owns a small percentage of Tesla. Elon owns 12.8% of Tesla as of February 28, 2025. There are several other large stakeholders who own nearly as much as he does - and hundreds of thousands of retail shareholders. His fortune is so large that even if he lost his entire stake in Tesla today, he’d still be worth over $200 billion.
This amount of money is almost unimaginable. If you were to be given $400,000 every single day since 0 BC - until today - you still wouldn’t be worth as much as Elon Musk. That amount of money is absolutely insane and ridiculous—when you consider how little it affects him and how much real harm it causes to everyday people, it’s clear it’s not the correct approach.
Tesla employs about 130,000 people worldwide. That’s 129,999 people who aren’t Elon Musk that are directly harmed by these actions, all for choosing to work at one of the most innovative tech companies - whose mission is to electrify the world.
Putting all that together - the protests, boycotts, and vandalism aren’t hurting Elon as much as they’re hurting everyone else. They’re hurting regular people. And these people who have been threatened or hurt are never going to look in the same direction as these misguided activists.
Instead, these would-be vandals would be better off redirecting their efforts to reach out to the political leaders in their regions and working on getting better representation - and ensuring that people come to the stands to vote next time there is an election. There is a proper, legal, and moral way to change someone’s mind - with discussion. Threats to damage their property and hurt them are not the way.
Wrapping it all up - harming people and their property is a crime - and it isn’t the way to change people’s minds in a democratic society. It does nothing to harm Elon Musk, and all it hurts are your neighbors and friends.
Following Tesla’s Q1 2025 All-Hands Meeting, the company quietly updated the Cybertruck’s webpage. When we first checked it during our Live Space, nothing immediately stood out. At first glance, the changes seemed to be mostly stylistic—aligning the page’s format with the rest of Tesla’s site while adding a Cyber-inspired twist with unique fonts and boxed media elements.
But this morning, we took a closer look—because if there’s one thing Tesla loves, it’s hiding details in plain sight. And sure enough, we found an interesting change around Sentry Mode — playing loud music.
Sentry Mode Music
Tesla quietly updated the Sentry Mode section on the Cybertruck’s about page, adding new text that reveals Sentry Mode will soon be able to play loud music when it’s triggered. The text on Tesla’s site states:
“Enable Sentry Mode to monitor your unattended vehicle or trailer, and automatically activate the alarm, increase the touchscreen brightness, and play music at max volume if a threat is detected.”
This latest change appears to build on that, leveraging the Cybertruck’s Superhorn and external speaker, which can already play music when parked via the Boombox feature. We suspect this feature won’t rely on the internal speakers, as the music would have to be extremely loud in order to be heard outside the car.
And given how loud the Superhorn and external speakers are—powerful enough to function as a proper horn—this could be an effective deterrent for vandals or intruders.
Update: As some users have pointed out, Tesla does have a feature that Sentry Mode will play Bach on the internal speakers if the alarm is triggered while Sentry Mode is activated. It’s not completely clear whether that’s what Tesla was referring to on the new Cybertruck page, but it seems like it could be something different. Below is an example of the music that’s currently played:
Other Models Too?
While this feature was spotted on the Cybertruck’s page, it’s unlikely that it’ll be exclusive to the stainless steel beast. We did a quick scan of Tesla’s other vehicle pages, but the change hasn’t made it over to other pages yet. While not every Tesla vehicle includes a Superhorn, most are equipped with an external speaker for the Pedestrian Warning System (PWS)—which also powers the Boombox feature.
If your Tesla supports Boombox, it’s likely that Sentry Mode Music will roll out across the lineup once the update is released. However, legacy vehicles without a PWS will likely miss out on this feature.
Update: We clarified that other vehicles, like the new Model 3, also feature the same Superhorn as the Cybertruck, letting Tesla combine the traditional horn and PWS speaker into one external speaker — reducing yet another part.
When Will It Be Released?
To answer everyone’s favorite question, we know it’s not in Tesla’s 2025.8 update, which has recently started rolling out. Given the small 2025 releases so far (2025.2 and 2025.8), Tesla may be preparing a larger 2025 Spring Update similar to last year’s.
We’re about a month away from the arrival of Tesla’s Spring Update, and this could be one of the included features.
The real question is: Will Tesla allow custom sounds or music via USB? If so, the possibilities just got a whole lot more entertaining.
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