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(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. is widely expected to report its sixth consecutive quarterly profit Wednesday -- and potentially its first $1-billion quarter. That follows a remarkable year when Tesla’s stock split and skyrocketed, the company joined the S&P 500 Index and it sold almost half a million cars.Two years ago, the world’s leading electric carmaker was going through a rough patch. Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, informed employees in a January 2019 open letter that the company had to reduce headcount by 7% and boost Model 3 production rates to survive. Later that month, the CEO told analysts Tesla needed to cut costs and its vehicle prices to avoid bankruptcy.And there was one more thing. As the earnings call drew to a close, Musk dropped a bombshell: Deepak Ahuja, the longtime finance chief who previously worked at Ford Motor Co., was retiring again. A then-unknown protégé from the finance team, Zachary Kirkhorn, would replace him after a short transition period.Investors worried: Was Ahuja’s departure another sign of turmoil and executive talent running for the exits? Tesla’s PR team at the time didn’t have a basic bio or photograph of Kirkhorn at the ready. The surprise announcement sent shares tumbling.Kirkhorn, 36, remains a bit of a mystery to the average investor, but he has made his mark. He has shored up Tesla’s balance sheet with a string of successful capital raises, introduced a more conservative approach to forecasting and provided greater discipline in cost-cutting that has helped Tesla act more like the S&P 500 company it has become.“People still don’t really know who Zach is, but they know what he’s done,” said Gene Munster, managing partner at Loup Ventures. “He’s a shy person, and I don’t think he likes to speak publicly. But it’s been a remarkable turnaround.”Numbers TalkThough he participates in all of Tesla’s earnings calls, he’s not a conference-goer. Several sell-side analysts said they’ve never talked with him on the phone. Tesla executives did not respond to an email about this story.But the numbers speak for themselves. By the yardsticks that measure most CFOs, he has excelled. Tesla shares have risen more than 1,300% during his tenure. On the day Musk announced that Kirkhorn would be taking over -- Jan. 30, 2019 -- Tesla’s market capitalization was $53 billion. It was about $835 billion at Monday’s close. At this pace, a trillion-dollar valuation may not be far off.Shares of the company traded up 1.4% to $892.83 as of 8:41 a.m. in New York on Tuesday.Tesla’s lofty market cap has less to do with financial engineering than the automaker working through production problems, growing concern about climate change and a wave of EV mania on Wall Street. But Kirkhorn has capitalized on the company’s success by building a fortress balance sheet, with $12 billion raised in 2020 alone. The company has reported profits but also beat analysts at the game of expectations, often exceeding their consensus estimates.“I don’t know Zach personally, but he’s taught Tesla to under-promise and over-deliver,” said Gary Black, a bullish private investor. “They seem much more disciplined.”Not everyone is a fan. Hedge fund manager David Einhorn, a long-time critic of Tesla who has shorted the carmaker’s stock, has publicly questioned the company’s accounting practices. The Greenlight Capital president challenged the CFO and Musk in an April tweet to explain what Einhorn claimed are discrepancies in Tesla’s accounts receivable. He recently called the rally in its stock a “fad.”Tesla LiferKirkhorn is one of four executive officers at the helm of the world’s most valuable automaker. Musk, 49, is the public face and voice of the company. Drew Baglino, the senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, shared the stage with Musk at last fall’s Battery Day event. Jerome Guillen, the president of automotive, previously led sales and is beloved by early customers who still have emails from him.Kirkhorn attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he was enrolled in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology. This allowed him to graduate in 2006 with two bachelor of science degrees: economics from the Wharton School and mechanical engineering and applied mechanics from Penn Engineering. (Musk also went to Penn). He interned briefly at Microsoft Corp. then took a position as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company.That’s also where he met his husband, according to a 2018 wedding announcement in The New York Times. The couple own a home in the hills of Oakland, California, not far from Tesla’s Palo Alto, California, headquarters, according to public records.He joined Tesla in March 2010 as a senior analyst in the finance department. Eighteen months later, he left to pursue an MBA at Harvard Business School -- which Musk said wasn’t necessary. After graduating, Kirkhorn returned and worked under Ahuja and Jason Wheeler, who served as CFO from 2015 to 2017, when Ahuja returned. Tesla released its first ever report on diversity and inclusion last month and Kirkhorn was featured in a section called “Pride in Our Employees.” It noted he has been promoted five times.Turning PointSeveral former colleagues and multi-year investors who know Kirkhorn said he is deeply committed to Tesla’s clean energy mission. They describe him as being very close to Tesla’s products, mindful of engineering and manufacturing as well as finance. On earnings calls, he talks in great detail about Tesla’s other revenue streams, from the sale of regulatory credits to what the company terms “Full Self Driving” software and future insurance products.“The auto business is capital intensive and under Zach, Tesla has been more capital efficient,” said Dick Amacher, a former engineer and product planner at General Motors Co. who says he owns two Tesla models and stock in the company. “A finance leader is supposed to provide guidance for future strategy, and the results speak for themselves.”The first half of 2019 was marred by Musk’s sudden decision to close stores -- a move he walked back days later -- but one that shook Tesla’s sales staff and puzzled shareholders. A bullish Wall Street broker rued the carmaker’s sliding stock price as “humbling” in June of that year, and two others warned about a deteriorating sales outlook. That unease was further stoked when veteran Chief Technology Officer J.B. Straubel unexpectedly departed in July.“When Zach came on, he had the world’s worst job,” said Munster. “He had to deal with Elon and save a really complicated company.”‘War Chest’By the third quarter of 2019, Tesla was showing progress toward improving its balance sheet. In a key turning point, the automaker reported the first profit in almost a year, beating analysts’ expectations for a loss, and stunned close observers with news the Model Y crossover would launch months earlier than expected -- a big deal for a company known for blowing deadlines.“We are quickly turning the corner for our next phase of growth, and our financial health continues to strengthen,” Kirkhorn told analysts on an October 2019 earnings call. “We remain focused on reducing cost, which enables rapid investments in future programs and growth.”Tesla’s $3.7 billion in cash on hand at the end of 2018 ballooned to $14.5 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2020, the most recent figure available. Musk recently called that a “war chest.” Tesla will be spending some of that money on global expansion, with new auto and battery plants under construction in Austin, Texas, and Berlin.Kirkhorn has a Twitter account, but his tweets are protected. When Tesla reported its delivery totals earlier this month, he shared the release on LinkedIn.“Half a million cars in 2020! Congratulations to the Tesla team, our new customers and those who support our journey,” he wrote in the post. “Looking forward to another exciting year.”(Updates with premarket trading in ninth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
James Harden and Kevin Durant each scored 20 points despite three relatively quiet quarters, and the Brooklyn Nets broke away with a big run in the fourth to beat the Miami Heat 98-85 on Monday night.
Haven Life Insurance Agency (Haven Life), the customer-centric life insurance innovator backed and wholly owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), today announced its inclusion in Built In NYC's list of Best Places to Work in 2021. The life insurance innovator jumped up 56 places from last year's list to now be ranked the second best place to work amongst all the Built In companies featured in New York City.
Agiloft, the global standard in contract and commerce lifecycle management, today announced a partnership with Boomi, a Dell Technologies business and leading provider of cloud-based integration platform as a service (iPaaS). Through this partnership, Agiloft strives to help customers meet their contract and commerce lifecycle management needs.
As the US TV drama's finale turns 10, Jacob Stolworthy goes back through every single twist, turn and big moment
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Andrea Mancino and Carmel Pratt were elected to the Boards of Directors for two organizations driving sustainable buildings and industry education.
The ball-doctoring case that included Gerrit Cole's name has been thrown out by an Orange County judge.
Police in the port city of Rotterdam used a water cannon and tear gas in an attempt to disperse a crowd of rioters who also looted shops.
AlphaSix Corporation, a Public Sector products, services and solutions provider was successfully awarded a GSA MAS-based $87M five-year time & materials contract by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The IT services contract supports the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) worker safety goals through new modernization and innovation competencies. This includes the development of a worker safety knowledgebase that will multiply the value of NIOSH accomplishments.
Masters Week in New York is the art market's first major event of the year 2021. Sotheby's evening session on 28 January will be offering masterpieces by Botticelli (estimated $80 million), Rembrandt ($20-30 million), Hugo Van der Goes ($3-5 million) and Guido Reni ($1.2 - 1.8 million). By coincidence, another painting by Guido Reni (Cleopatra) will be offered the same day in Toulouse under Marc Labarbe's hammer and under the watchful eye of Eric Turquin. The latter's team of experts conducted the examination and appraisal of the Cleopatra and have estimated the work between $95,000 and $145,000. However the quality of the painting could well raise the price and it seems likely that the upside will be just as potent in Toulouse as it would be in New York.
Anago Cleaning Systems, an industry-leading commercial cleaning franchise with over 1,700 Regional and Unit Franchises throughout the U.S. and Canada, announced its newest franchise owners in Denver, Colorado. Father and son team, Dante and Alex Caravaggio will lead the Anago unit franchise expansion in the Centennial State.
Tyrrell Hatton found it surreal when he looked at golf's world ranking and saw himself at a career-high No. 5, above the likes of Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. A golfer once best known for his loud and often self-deprecating outbursts on the course is now better regarded as a proven winner on the European Tour. The latest big victory in the 29-year-old Hatton's burgeoning career came in Abu Dhabi last week, when he outplayed McIlroy in the final round to win by four shots and claim a sixth title on the European Tour.
Stocks moving in premarket trading on Tuesday include General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and BlackBerry.
The "Cosmetic Implants Market Value forecast, New Business Opportunities and Companies: Outlook by Type, Application, by End User and by Country, 2020-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
Stock futures move higher following solid earnings reports; Microsoft, AMD, General Electric and 3M report earnings; Leon Black steps down as CEO of private-equity giant Apollo; BlackBerry surges again.
C5IS today announced "The Big Black Book of Electronic Surveillance," the first publicly-available treatise to reveal leading companies that produce and sell spyware to government agencies worldwide.
Kellyanne Conway, former counselor to President Trump, allegedly posted a topless picture of her daughter Claudia, 16, on Twitter on Monday. Reached for comment, a Twitter rep told Variety the company’s teams are investigating the incident. Kellyanne Conway could not be reached for comment. According to screen captures posted by users on social media, Kellyanne […]
A former business partner of Shark Tank star Daymond John has opened the doors of a unique new thematic cafe experience in South Jersey.