Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Beijing time May 11 news, in Tesla company, there is a very low-key executive. He doesn't like the limelight, but he knows how to get along with his boss, Musk. If Musk is the facade of Tesla, then he is the man behind Tesla.

Kirkhorn sits next to Musk four years ago, when Zach Kirkhorn (Zach Kirkhorn) became Tesla CFO, the electric car pioneer had been losing money for more than a decade. At the end of the 2019 quarterly analyst conference call, Musk said his new CFO would be "Zack," but did not give his last name. Some of the people in the conference call were confused. They had never heard of him.

The helmsman behind the scenes although Kirkhorn helped turn Tesla into a money-making machine, he didn't do much to improve his image. Musk enjoys 137 million followers on Twitter, but Kirkhorn's account has only 63 followers, keeping him out of the public eye.

Mr Musk now relies on Mr Kirkhorn to turn Tesla into the world's largest carmaker. Tesla aims to sell 20 million electric vehicles a year by 2030, equivalent to about 1/4 of global new car sales. Last year, the company delivered 1.3 million electric cars. In the future, Tesla has to overcome obstacles such as the cooling of the automobile market and the increase in the number of competitors.

When Kirkhorn took over as CFO, Tesla had a market capitalization of about $50 billion and is now worth more than $500 billion. He was praised for improving Tesla's productivity, helped the company achieve 15 consecutive quarters of profits and accumulated $22 billion in capital reserves. The company's operating margin last year was 16.8 per cent, well ahead of Detroit's car competitors. In order to expand market share, Tesla recently launched a price war, resulting in a decline in profit margins.

People who worked with Kirkhorn at the opening of the Berlin factory last year attributed his success to a tough and harmonious management style and his ability to connect and communicate with Mr Musk. Since Tesla's early days, dozens of former executives have been unable to master both skills. Kirkhorn's former colleagues say Kirkhorn is happy to realize Musk's vision behind the scenes.

"he didn't steal the limelight from Elon." Kurt Kelty (Kurt Kelty), vice president of battery materials company Sila and Tesla's former senior director of battery technology, said of Kirkhorn.

Kirkhorn, 38, and Musk, 51, are alumni who studied the same subject at the University of Pennsylvania, but Kirkhorn was 10 years later. Kirkhorn studied engineering and economics, while Musk studied physics and economics, which gave them a common language. Tesla's former employees say Kirkhorn's technical training and an MBA from Harvard Business School have helped him reduce production costs and pursue efficiency and advance the company's goal of selling more cars.

Kirkhorn's former colleagues say Kirkhorn is known for managing conversations with Musk, and his boss is notoriously willing to fire people without warning. Mr Kirkhorn has won allies at the company by acting as an intermediary between employees and Mr Musk, according to people who have worked with him. If Musk makes a request that seems impossible, Kirkhorn will break it down into smaller parts.

Their relationship is reminiscent of the relationship between Apple CEO Tim Tim Cook and the late founder Steve Jobs. Musk often revolutionizes the auto industry with risky bets to upend the status quo, while Kirkhorn is known for fine-tuning operations.

"for CFO, predictability is everything," said Steve Westly, a former board member of Tesla. "what you can't do is surprise people, and he doesn't surprise people."

Kirkhorn was the emcee of the latest investor gathering. At the party, Tesla focused on the executives who worked under Musk. Kirkhorn used the opportunity to describe how Tesla managed expenses and cut production costs for Model 3 sedans, in part by building a more efficient supply chain.

Who is Musk's successor? Just last month, Tesla appointed Zhu Xiaotong as senior vice president of the automotive business as part of a restructuring of senior management, according to a power of attorney filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Zhu Xiaotong and Musk after this executive restructuring, Zhu Xiaotong is one of the four top executives of Tesla. Not only that, he now assists in running Tesla's new plant in Dezhou, supervises the capacity climbing of the plant in Texas, and has been leading Tesla's Asia-Pacific business.

A series of promotions can't help but make outsiders wonder if Zhu Xiaotong is Musk's hand-picked successor.

But don't forget that besides Musk, there are two of Tesla's top four executives, one of whom is Kirkhorn and the other is Andrew Bagrino (Andrew Baglino), senior vice president of power systems and energy engineering.

Zhu Xiaotong and Kirkhorn are among the top four executives in 2021, and Mr Musk has said Tesla has no succession plan for him. But last year, Musk took on a time-consuming management challenge by acquiring social media company Twitter, which made investors more interested in Tesla's succession plans.

Although Tesla does not have a clear second-in-command, Mr Kirkhorn handles a lot of day-to-day business as chief operating officer, according to former Tesla executives. Tesla board members have discussed Mr Kirkhorn as a potential successor to Mr Musk as CEO, according to a person familiar with the matter. Last year, his name was mentioned by directors before the trial of a sky-high pay lawsuit against Mr Musk in Tesla. Some directors are skeptical that Mr. Musk will step down in the foreseeable future, the person familiar with the matter said.

Robin Dan Holm, chairman of Tesla, did not respond to questions about the matter. "succession planning has always been an important topic for the board," she said in January. "

Mr. Musk didn't respond to a request for comment.

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