Sendil Palani, Tesla's vice president of finance, has left the company after a 17-year tenure that began shortly after its near-bankruptcy in 2008. In a farewell post on X, he reflected on sleeping under his desk during the company's 'Tesla Deathwatch' and praised CEO Elon Musk's leadership. His departure adds to a wave of high-profile executive exits at the electric vehicle maker.
Sendil Palani joined Tesla's finance team in January 2009, just days after the company narrowly avoided bankruptcy over Christmas 2008. At the time, Tesla had about 300 employees, produced one vehicle per day, and had enough cash to last roughly four weeks, according to details from his farewell message and company history.
In his post on X, Palani wrote: "Tesla barely survived Christmas 2008. I started a few days later in our Finance team, under an ongoing 'Tesla Deathwatch.' I slept under my desk in San Carlos, CA at least once, and I wasn't the only one." He praised Musk for "demonstrating the power of thinking from first principles at all times, about all things" and called his finance team "heroes within a company full of heroics."
Over his tenure, Palani's role expanded to include financial oversight of vehicle engineering, neural network development, hardware sales, software transactions, and global manufacturing expansions. He contributed to securing a $465 million Department of Energy loan in 2010, which funded the Fremont factory and Model S program; Tesla repaid it nine years early. Palani also advised the public: "Remember that Tesla’s mission is so ambitious and complex that any narrative about the company is naturally an oversimplification. Seek the truth about the company at all times."
Palani did not specify a reason for his departure. His exit follows a pattern of senior leaders leaving since mid-2024, including powertrain head Drew Baglino in April 2024, software head David Lau in 2025, and recent departures like IT and AI infrastructure VP Raj Jegannathan in February 2026, Cybertruck and Model Y program managers Siddhant Awasthi and Emmanuel Lamacchia in November 2025, Cybercab lead Victor Nechita last month, and software director Thomas Dmytryk last week after 11 years. CFO Vaibhav Taneja remains in place.
Tesla has faced funding crunches before, such as in 2008 when it secured $40 million in November and completed funding on Christmas Eve, with Musk later stating the company was three days from bankruptcy. The firm has since become a leading EV producer.
