Tesla’s Advertising Spend on X Has Plummeted to Almost Zero

In 2024, Tesla earmarked $400,000 for advertising on Elon Musk’s platform, X, according to a recent regulatory filing. However, the firm appears poised to spend just a small portion of that in 2025 due to ongoing sales struggles.

In the first couple of months of 2025, Tesla allocated $10,000 for ads on X, suggesting an annual budget of only $60,000 unless there’s a notable increase in promotional activities throughout the year. In contrast, the automaker had already invested $200,000 in X during the same timeframe last year. Following those early months, Tesla’s expenditure sharply declined, reaching another $200,000 for the remainder of 2024.

Traditionally, Tesla did not partake in advertising until CEO Elon Musk acquiesced to shareholder requests in 2023. This shift led to ads for the company’s vehicles being launched on Google and YouTube in late 2023 and early 2024, along with X.

It is unclear if spending on X has risen since February, though Google’s Ads Transparency database shows Tesla running nearly 700 active ads across Google’s platforms, including Search and YouTube. The company has not replied to requests for comments.

In other Musk-related businesses, Tesla reported a payment of about $800,000 to SpaceX for the use of one of its private jets — a resource that Musk often utilizes for travel among his various company headquarters. This cost seems to be declining, with Tesla spending roughly $40,000 for the jet through February 2025.

Ensuring Musk’s security during his travels also incurs considerable expenses. Tesla’s proxy filing revealed a payment of $2.8 million to a security firm owned by Musk in 2024, an increase from $2.4 million in 2023. This security firm earned $500,000 from Tesla through February 2025, and the automaker noted that this is only a fraction of the total security costs associated with Mr. Musk.

The largest transaction among Musk’s companies last year involved xAI, which paid Tesla $198.3 million, mainly for Tesla’s Megapack battery storage systems utilized at xAI’s data center in Tennessee. Additionally, xAI disbursed $36.8 million for Megapack products during the first two months of this year.

Kimbal Musk, Elon’s brother, has also reaped rewards from Tesla’s achievements. As a board member, he received payments totaling $300,000 from Tesla for a performance by his drone company, Nova Sky Stories, at the automaker’s “We, Robot” event in October 2024.