Tesla Cuts Ad Spend on X (Twitter)

Tesla's Advertising and Intercompany Transactions in 2024 & 2025

A recent regulatory filing indicates that Tesla allocated $400,000 to advertising on X, Elon Musk’s social media platform, during 2024. However, current trends suggest a significantly lower expenditure is anticipated for 2025, coinciding with reported challenges in vehicle sales.

Advertising Spend on X

Tesla’s advertising investment on X totaled $10,000 within the initial two months of 2025. If this rate continues, the annual expenditure is projected to reach only $60,000, unless a substantial increase in advertising is implemented later in the year.

For comparison, Tesla had already invested $200,000 in X advertising during the same period in the previous year. Following those initial two months in 2024, an additional $200,000 was spent on X advertisements throughout the remainder of the year.

Shift in Advertising Strategy

Historically, Tesla refrained from traditional advertising practices. It was only after facing pressure from shareholders in 2023 that CEO Elon Musk agreed to explore advertising as a potential growth strategy.

Consequently, advertisements for Tesla vehicles began appearing in Google search results and on YouTube in late 2023 and early 2024, alongside placements on X.

Current Advertising Activity

The extent to which advertising spending on X has increased since February remains unconfirmed. Nevertheless, Google’s Ads Transparency database reveals that Tesla currently maintains approximately 700 active advertisements across Google’s platforms, including Search and YouTube.

Tesla has not yet responded to inquiries seeking further clarification on this matter.

SpaceX Jet Usage and Security Costs

The regulatory filing also disclosed that Tesla remitted $800,000 to SpaceX in 2024 for the utilization of a private jet owned by the rocket company. This arrangement is frequently used by Musk for travel between the headquarters of his various enterprises.

This expense is also projected to decrease in 2025, with Tesla having paid SpaceX approximately $40,000 for jet usage through February of this year.

Providing security for Musk’s extensive travel schedule incurs significant costs. Tesla reported paying $2.8 million to a security firm owned by Musk in 2024, an increase from the $2.4 million paid in 2023 when the security arrangement was first established.

Through February 2025, this security company has earned $500,000 from Tesla. The automaker notes that this figure represents only a “portion of the total cost of security services concerning Mr. Musk.”

Transactions with xAI and Nova Sky Stories

The largest financial transaction between Musk’s companies in 2024 involved xAI, which paid Tesla $198.3 million. The majority of this payment was allocated to Tesla’s Megapack battery storage products, utilized at xAI’s data center located in Tennessee.

xAI continued this trend in 2025, paying Tesla an additional $36.8 million for Megapack products during the first two months of the year.

Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk’s brother and a Tesla board member, also benefited from Tesla’s success. The filing revealed that Tesla paid his drone company, Nova Sky Stories, $300,000 for the aerial display performed at the automaker’s “We, Robot” event in October 2024.