The surprise resignation of Seagate CFO Dave Morton was due to a move to Tesla, the electric car company has revealed.
Seagate has been Morton’s career home for 23 years. He will become the chief accounting officer at Tesla, reporting to CFO Deepak Ahuja.
It’s an interesting move, and one thing is certain: Tesla will be a more exciting employer than Seagate.
Tesla’s previous CAO, Eric Branderiz, left Tesla on 7 March. SVP Engineering Doug Field resigned from Tesla this month and Musk announced a 9 per cent Tesla employee layoff in June.
Tesla’s SEC filing said Morton, age 46, will have an annual base salary of $350,000 and will receive a $10m new hire equity grant (stock options effectively), which will vest over four years.
No doubt the company car scheme at Tesla is also good.
Morton will be responsible for Tesla’s corporate financial reporting and global accounting, payroll, tax, and trade activities.
He resigned from Seagate on 25 July and is officially leaving on 3 August, seven working days later.
