Departing Tesla finance VP says he slept under his desk while the company was under 'deathwatch'

Tesla flirted with bankruptcy several times on its rise to become the world's most valuable automaker. Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images 2026-03-10T12:32:56.104Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Sendil Palani, Tesla's finance VP, said on Monday that he has left the company. Palani said he started his stint at the EV firm sleeping under his desk during a "Tesla Deathwatch" in the late 2000s. Tesla came close to bankruptcy in 2008, with Elon Musk saying the company was three days from going bust. Another top executive has departed Tesla as Elon Musk's EV maker continues to lose high-profile employees. Loading audio narration... Finance VP Sendil Palani said on Monday that he had left after more than a decade at the automaker, and used his farewell message to reference one of Tesla's darkest days."Tesla barely survived Christmas 2008. I started a few days later in our Finance team, under an ongoing 'Tesla Deathwatch,'" Palani wrote in a post on X. "I slept under my desk in San Carlos, CA at least once, and I wasn't the only one," he added.Tesla has flirted with bankruptcy several times in its history, but a funding crunch in late 2008 left the young company perilously close to extinction. Every time Tom publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Tom and get more of their work as it publishes. Sign up By clicking "Sign up", you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Tesla eventually secured $40 million in financing in November 2008, but Elon Musk — who took over as Tesla CEO in October 2008 — later said that the company was only three days from bankruptcy when the funding round was completed on Christmas Eve."I put in all money I had, didn't own a house & had to borrow money from friends to pay rent. Difficult time," Musk wrote on X in 2020. Since then, Tesla has risen to become an EV powerhouse and one of the world's most valuable companies. The company has had several other brushes with bankruptcy, with Musk and other executives resorting to sleeping on the factory floor as Tesla struggled to scale its mass-market Model 3 EV between 2017 and 2019.Palani is the latest high-profile executive to depart Tesla in recent months. Fellow VP Raj Jegannathan left in February, while software director Thomas Dmytryk also announced his departure last week. Siddhant Awasthi and Emmanuel Lamacchia, the program managers for Tesla's Cybertruck and Model Y EVs, both left in November, while Cybercab lead Victor Nechita also confirmed his departure last month.In his farewell message, Palani thanked Musk and praised his colleagues at Tesla. The company did not respond to a request for comment.