With a few minutes to go before Telsa's quarterly earnings call ended, Elon Musk surprised investors with news that chief financial officer Deepak Ahuja will be leaving the company.

His role will be replaced by Tesla's vice president of finance, Zach Kirkhorn. Ahuja is retiring -- for the second time, reports Reuters. The news caused stocks to drop by as much as 5.9 percent in late trading, even as the earnings call promised lower prices of its Model 3 sedan with a new Model Y version.

It's not the first time the electric car maker has seen high profile departures. Last September saw both chief accounting officer Dave Morton and head of human resources Gabrielle Toledano leaving to similar effect on Wall Street, as shares tanked by as much as 10 percent then.

All is not doom and gloom, as the company did say that it's possible to post a profit in the first quarter of this year.