Tesla Stock (TSLA.US): Live Price Chart

Tesla, Inc. is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures, and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from home to grid-scale, solar panels and solar shingles, and related products and services.

Tesla was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning as Tesla Motors. Its name is a tribute to inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla. In February 2004, Elon Musk joined as Tesla's largest shareholder; in 2008, he was named chief executive officer. In 2008, the company began production of its first car model, the Roadster sports car, followed by the Model S sedan in 2012, the Model X SUV in 2015, the Model 3 sedan in 2017, the Model Y crossover in 2020, the Tesla Semi truck in 2022, and the Cybertruck pickup truck in 2023. The Model 3 is the all-time best-selling plug-in electric car worldwide, and in June 2021 became the first electric car to sell 1 million units globally. In 2023, the Model Y was the best-selling vehicle, of any kind, globally.

Tesla is one of the world's most valuable companies in terms of market capitalization. In October 2021, Tesla temporarily became a trillion-dollar company, the seventh U.S. company to do so. In 2023, the company led the battery electric vehicle market, with 19.9% share. Also in 2023, the company was ranked 69th in the Forbes Global 2000. As of March 2024, it is the world's most valuable automaker. Tesla has been the subject of lawsuits, government scrutiny, and journalistic criticism, stemming from allegations of multiple cases of whistleblower retaliation, worker rights violations such as sexual harassment and anti-union activities, safety defects leading to dozens of recalls, the lack of a public relations department, and controversial statements from Musk, including overpromising on the company's driving assist technology and product release timelines.

Founding (2003–2004)

Tesla Motors, Inc. was incorporated on July 1, 2003, by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. They served as chief executive officer and chief financial officer, respectively. Eberhard aimed to create "a car manufacturer that is also a technology company," focusing on "the battery, the computer software, and the proprietary motor."

Ian Wright joined Tesla as the third employee a few months later. In February 2004, the company raised $7.5 million in Series A funding, including $6.5 million from Elon Musk, who had received $100 million from the sale of his PayPal stake two years earlier. Musk became the chairman of the board of directors and the largest shareholder of Tesla. J. B. Straubel joined Tesla in May 2004 as chief technical officer.

A lawsuit settlement in September 2009 allowed Eberhard, Tarpenning, Wright, Musk, and Straubel to all call themselves co-founders.

Roadster (2005–2009)

Elon Musk played an active role within the company, though he was not deeply involved in day-to-day operations. Tesla's strategy was to start with a premium sports car for early adopters and then move to more mainstream vehicles, including sedans and affordable compacts.

In February 2006, Musk led Tesla's Series B venture capital funding round of $13 million, adding Valor Equity Partners to the team. Musk co-led the third, $40 million round in May 2006, which included investments from Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and former eBay President Jeff Skoll. A fourth round worth $45 million in May 2007 brought the total private financing investment to over $105 million.

In August 2007, Eberhard was asked by the board, led by Musk, to step down as CEO. Eberhard then took the title of "President of Technology" before leaving the company in January 2008. Co-founder Marc Tarpenning also left the company in January 2008. In August 2007, Michael Marks was brought in as interim CEO, and in December 2007, Ze'ev Drori became CEO and President. Musk succeeded Drori as CEO in October 2008. In June 2009, Eberhard filed a lawsuit against Musk for allegedly forcing him out, but the case was dismissed in August 2009.

Tesla began production of the Roadster in 2008 in the service bays of a former Chevrolet dealership in Menlo Park. By January 2009, Tesla had raised $187 million and delivered 147 cars. Musk had contributed $70 million of his own money to the company.

In June 2009, Tesla was approved to receive $465 million in interest-bearing loans from the United States Department of Energy. The funding supported the engineering and production of the Model S sedan and the development of commercial powertrain technology. Tesla repaid the loan in May 2013, with $12 million in interest.

IPO, Model S, and Model X (2010–2015)

In May 2010, Tesla purchased the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California, from Toyota for $42 million. On June 29, 2010, the company went public via an initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ, the first American car company to do so since the Ford Motor Company in 1956. The company issued 13.3 million shares of common stock at a price of $17 per share, raising $226 million.

In October 2010, Tesla opened the Tesla Factory to start production of the Model S. In January 2012, Tesla ceased production of the Roadster, and in June 2012, the company launched its second car, the Model S luxury sedan. The Model S won several automotive awards during 2012 and 2013, including the 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year, and became the first electric car to top the monthly sales ranking of a country when it topped the Norwegian new car sales list in September 2013. The Model S was also the best-selling plug-in electric car worldwide for 2015 and 2016.

On July 15, 2013, Tesla became a NASDAQ-100 company.

Tesla announced the Tesla Autopilot, a driver-assistance system, in 2014. In September that year, all Tesla cars started shipping with sensors and software to support the feature, with what would later be called "hardware version 1."

Tesla entered the energy storage market, unveiling its Tesla Powerwall (home) and Tesla Powerpack (business) battery packs in April 2015. The company received orders valued at $800 million within a week of the unveiling.

Tesla began shipping its third vehicle, the luxury SUV Tesla Model X, in September 2015, which had 25,000 pre-orders at the time.

SolarCity and Model 3 (2016–2018)

Tesla entered the solar installation business in November 2016 with the purchase of SolarCity in an all-stock $2.6 billion deal. The business merged with Tesla's existing battery energy storage products division to form the Tesla Energy subsidiary. The deal was controversial due to SolarCity's liquidity issues, which Tesla's shareholders were not informed about. In February 2017, Tesla Motors changed its name to Tesla, Inc. to better reflect the scope of its expanded business.

Tesla unveiled its first mass-market vehicle, the Model 3 sedan, in April 2016. The Model 3 was less expensive than Tesla's previous vehicles, and within a week, the company received over 325,000 paid reservations. Tesla invested heavily in robotics and automation to assemble the Model 3, but this actually slowed production. This led to significant delays and production problems, a period described as "production hell." By the end of 2018, the production problems had been overcome, and the Model 3 became the world's best-selling electric car from 2018 to 2021.

During this period of production hell, Tesla became one of the most shorted companies in the stock market. On August 8, 2018, amid financial issues, Musk posted on social media that he was considering taking Tesla private. The plan did not materialize and led to controversy and lawsuits, including a securities fraud charge from the SEC, which forced Musk to pay a $20 million fine and step down as the company's chairman, though he remained CEO.

Global expansion and Model Y (2019–present)

From July 2019 to June 2020, Tesla reported four consecutive profitable quarters for the first time, making it eligible for inclusion in the S&P 500. During 2020, its share price increased 740%, and by December 14, 2020, its market capitalization exceeded that of the next nine largest automakers combined, making it the sixth most valuable company in the US. Tesla was added to the S&P index on December 21, 2020, as the most valuable company ever added, and the sixth-largest member of the index immediately after its addition.

Tesla introduced its second mass-market vehicle, the Model Y mid-size crossover SUV, in March 2019. Deliveries started in March 2020.

During this period, Tesla invested heavily in expanding its production capacity, opening three new Gigafactories in quick succession. Construction of Gigafactory Shanghai started in January 2019, as the first automobile factory in China fully owned by a foreign company. Its first production vehicle, a Model 3, rolled out of the factory in December, less than one year after groundbreaking. Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg broke ground in February 2020, and its production of the Model Y began in March 2022. Gigafactory Texas broke ground in June 2020, its production of the Model Y began in April 2022, and it produced the first Cybertruck in November 2023. In March 2023, Tesla announced plans for a Gigafactory in Mexico to open in 2025.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tesla closed the Fremont Factory in March 2020 due to California state and Alameda County COVID restrictions. When California lifted restrictions, but the county did not, Tesla sued the county and restarted production on May 11, 2020. The county lifted restrictions on May 13, 2020, and Tesla dropped its lawsuit. After the dispute with county officials, on December 1, 2021, Tesla moved its legal headquarters to Gigafactory Texas. However, Tesla continued to use its former headquarters building in Palo Alto and expanded its footprint in California. The company opened its Megafactory to build Megapack batteries in Lathrop, California, in 2022, and announced in February 2023 that it would establish a large global engineering headquarters in Palo Alto, moving into a corporate campus once owned by Hewlett Packard.

In early 2021, Tesla became a major investor in bitcoin, acquiring $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency, and on March 24, 2021, the company started accepting bitcoin as payment for US vehicle purchases. However, after 49 days, the company ended bitcoin payments over concerns that the production of bitcoin was contributing to fossil fuel consumption, against the company's mission of encouraging the transition to sustainable energy. After the announcement, the price of bitcoin dropped around 12%. Tesla CEO Elon Musk later noted that Tesla would resume Bitcoin payments if there was confirmation of at least 50% clean energy usage by Bitcoin miners. Despite later reaching this milestone, Tesla did not return to accepting Bitcoin. By July 2022, Tesla had sold about 75% of its bitcoin holdings at a loss, citing that the cryptocurrency was hurting the company's profitability.

Between May 2023 and February 2024, almost all major North American EV manufacturers announced plans to switch to Tesla's North American Charging Standard adapters on their EVs by 202

5, which is expected to be a stable source of recurring revenue for Tesla.

In April 2024, the company announced it was laying off 10% of its employees.

For the fiscal (and calendar) year 2021, Tesla reported a net income of $5.52 billion. The annual revenue was $53.8 billion, an increase of 71% over the previous fiscal year.

Of the revenue number in 2021, $314 million came from selling regulatory credits to other automakers to meet government pollution standards. That number has been a smaller percentage of revenue for multiple quarters.

Tesla ended 2021 with $17.6 billion of cash on hand, down $1.8 billion from the end of 2020.

In February 2021, a 10-K filing revealed that Tesla had invested some $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, and the company indicated it would soon accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. Critics then pointed out how investing in cryptocurrency can run counter to Tesla's environmental goals. Tesla made more profit from the 2021 investment than the profit from selling cars in 2020, due to the Bitcoin price increase after the investment was announced.

The quarter ending June 2021 was the first time Tesla made a profit independent of Bitcoin and regulatory credits.

Key Financial Trends:

• 2005: Revenue $0, Net income -$12 million, Total assets $8 million, Employees: N/A
• 2006: Revenue $0, Net income -$30 million, Total assets $44 million, Employees: 70
• 2007: Revenue $0.073 million, Net income -$78 million, Total assets $34 million, Employees: 268
• 2008: Revenue $15 million, Net income -$83 million, Total assets $52 million, Employees: 252
• 2009: Revenue $112 million, Net income -$56 million, Total assets $130 million, Employees: 514
• 2010: Revenue $117 million, Net income -$154 million, Total assets $386 million, Employees: 899
• 2011: Revenue $204 million, Net income -$254 million, Total assets $713 million, Employees: 1,417
• 2012: Revenue $413 million, Net income -$396 million, Total assets $1,114 million, Employees: 2,914
• 2013: Revenue $2,013 million, Net income -$74 million, Total assets $2,417 million, Employees: 5,859
• 2014: Revenue $3,198 million, Net income -$294 million, Total assets $5,831 million, Employees: 10,161
• 2015: Revenue $4,046 million, Net income -$889 million, Total assets $8,068 million, Employees: 13,058
• 2016: Revenue $7,000 million, Net income -$675 million, Total assets $22,664 million, Employees: 17,782
• 2017: Revenue $11,759 million, Net income -$1,962 million, Total assets $28,655 million, Employees: 37,543
• 2018: Revenue $21,461 million, Net income -$976 million, Total assets $29,740 million, Employees: 48,817
• 2019: Revenue $24,578 million, Net income -$862 million, Total assets $34,309 million, Employees: 48,016
• 2020: Revenue $31,536 million, Net income $721 million, Total assets $52,148 million, Employees: 70,757
• 2021: Revenue $53,823 million, Net income $5,519 million, Total assets $62,131 million, Employees: 99,290
• 2022: Revenue $81,462 million, Net income $12,556 million, Total assets $82,338 million, Employees: 127,855
• 2023: Revenue $96,773 million, Net income $14,997 million, Total assets $106,618 million, Employees: 140,473

Corporate affairs

List of chief executives:

• Martin Eberhard (2004–2007)
• Ze'ev Drori (2007–2008)
• Elon Musk (since October 2008)

List of board chairs:

• Elon Musk (2004–2018)
• Robyn Denholm (since November 2018)

Board of directors:

Tesla has received criticism that its board lacks enough independent directors. In an April 2017 public letter, a group of influential Tesla investors, including the California State Teachers' Retirement System, asked Tesla to add two new independent directors to its board "who do not have any ties with chief executive Elon Musk." The investors wrote that "five of six current non-executive directors have professional or personal ties to Mr. Musk that could put at risk their ability to exercise independent judgment." Tesla's directors at the time included Brad Buss, who served as chief financial officer at SolarCity; Steve Jurvetson, a venture capitalist who also sits on the board of SpaceX; Elon Musk's brother, Kimbal; and Ira Ehrenpreis and Antonio Gracias, both of whom also invested in SpaceX. The letter called for a more independent board that could put a check on groupthink. At first, Musk responded on Twitter, writing that the investors "should buy Ford stock" because "their governance is amazing." Two days later, he promised he would add two independent board members; Kathleen Wilson-Thompson and Larry Ellison were added at the end of 2018. Ellison stepped down in August 2022. Former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, who left the company in 2019, was elected to the board in 2023.

Another criticism of the board's makeup is that most of the independent directors lack experience in the automotive industry. The exception is Robyn Denholm, who served in finance and corporate reporting roles at Toyota Australia from 1989 to 1996.

Other past board members include businessman Steve Westly, Daimler executive Herbert Kohler, CEO and Chairman of Johnson Publishing Company Linda Johnson Rice, and United Nations Special Envoy on Innovative Finance and Sustainable Investments Hiromichi Mizuno.