Who Owns Tesla?

By Scott Levine – Updated Dec 16, 2025 at 11:49 AM EST | Fact-checked by Parker Hicks

Key Points

Elon Musk is the largest individual shareholder of Tesla, significantly influencing its direction.
Vanguard and BlackRock are major institutional investors in Tesla, owning considerable stock.
Investing in Tesla stock is accessible via brokerage accounts or through EV-focused ETFs.
CEO says this is worth 18 Nvidias. Will this make the world's first trillionaire? ›

Elon Musk is widely recognized as the largest shareholder of Tesla (TSLA -0.36%) stock. However, current and prospective investors alike know he's not alone, leaving them to wonder about the bigger picture regarding who owns Tesla.

Tesla Gigafactory. — Image source: Tesla.

One of the most recognizable electric vehicle (EV) companies on America's highways and byways today, Tesla was initially focused on the luxury market. Its sole vehicle available to drivers was the Roadster, an electric sportscar that debuted in 2008.

In the years that followed, Tesla expanded its vehicle lineup to the Model S sedan in 2012 and the Model X SUV in 2015. Two years later, Tesla introduced the Model 3, an EV that sported a more affordable price tag. Rounding out the company's available vehicles, the Model Y, a compact SUV, started appearing on America's roads in 2020, while the Cybertruck debuted in 2023. Today, Tesla is developing the Semi, an electric semi-truck.

NASDAQ: TSLA

Tesla

Today's Change

(-0.36%) $-1.55

Current Price

$431.41

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$1.4T

Day's Range

$431.29 - $438.37

52wk Range

$214.25 - $498.83

Volume

60M

Avg Vol

81M

Gross Margin

17.01%

In addition to its automotive segment, Tesla's energy-generation and storage segment includes its business dedicated to the "design, manufacture, installation, sales and leasing of solar energy generation and energy storage products and related services and sales of solar energy systems incentives." The company offers its Powerpack battery for residential and commercial-scale applications, while its Megapack is suited for utility-scale energy-storage applications.

Who is the owner of Tesla?

Although there's no single owner of Tesla, Elon Musk is the largest owner of Tesla stock. The company, then called Tesla Motors, was founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003. Musk hitched a ride with the company shortly after it was incorporated, providing more than $6 million in 2004 during its Series A funding round.

At that time, Musk was appointed chairman of the company. Additionally, Musk made other investments in Tesla. For instance, he participated in Series B and Series C funding rounds before Tesla's initial public offering (IPO) in 2010.

Although he receives considerable attention as the CEO of Tesla -- a position he's held since 2008 -- Musk has his focus directed to the stars as well, serving as the CEO and chairman of SpaceX. Musk is recognized as one of the most accomplished entrepreneurs of modern times. In addition to founding SpaceX, Musk founded The Boring Company and Neuralink.

Reimagining urban transport, The Boring Company is attempting to alleviate city traffic by developing tunnel networks. Neuralink, on the other hand, is developing brain implants to help those who suffer from certain medical conditions. Early in his business career, Musk also achieved success as a co-founder of x.com, which eventually became PayPal (PYPL -2.17%).Elon Musk's Investment Strategy

Who are the largest shareholders?

Musk may be the person most closely identified with Tesla, but a number of individuals and institutions hold significant positions in the EV company. Let's take a look at the investors -- both insiders and institutions -- that represent the largest shareholders.

Individuals

Elon Musk: As the largest individual Tesla shareholder, Musk had 519,743,904 shares of common stock as of November 2025.
Kimbal Musk: The younger brother of Elon, Kimbal is the insider with the second-largest position in Tesla, owning 1,448,435 shares, or roughly 0.05% of Tesla's outstanding common stock as of November 2025.
Vaibhav Taneja: Acting as Tesla's chief financial officer (CFO) since August 2023, Taneja had 133,317 shares of Tesla's common stock, approximately 0.003%, as of September 2025.
Tom Zhu: First hired at Tesla in 2014, Zhu has served as the company's senior vice president of automotive since April 2023. As of September 2025, Zhu owned 47,599 shares, about 0.002% of Tesla's common stock.

Stock

A stock represents an ownership interest in a business. When a business wants to raise money, its board of directors determines the number of shares to issue.

Institutions

Vanguard Group: Providing its services to more than 50 million investors, the Vanguard Group holds 252.39 million shares of Tesla -- representing an ownership stake of more than 7.59% -- through several mutual funds, such as the Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares, Institutional Total Stock Market Index Fund, and Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares.
BlackRock (BLK -3.34%): With more than $10 trillion in assets under management, BlackRock holds its 206.74 million shares -- about 6.22% of Tesla's outstanding shares -- in several investment vehicles, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), like the iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF (IDRV -0.71%) and iShares U.S. Consumer Discretionary ETF (IYC -0.38%).
State Street (STT -1.39%): The third-largest institutional owner of Tesla stock is State Street, with 113.76 million shares -- an ownership stake of more than 3.5% -- in a variety of ETFs. Tesla has a major position in the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY -0.14%), for example, representing 19.3% of the ETF's holdings.
Geode Capital Management: Founded in 2001, Geode, which manages Fidelity Investments' stock index funds, has more than $1.1 trillion in assets under management. It owns 65.33 million shares of Tesla stock, representing an ownership stake of more than 1.96%.
Capital World Investors: Helping investors build wealth since 1931, Capital World owns 44.04 million shares -- about 1.32% of Tesla's outstanding stock. Capital World offers the Capital Group Growth ETF (CGGR -0.09%). Tesla represents about 5.74% of the fund's holdings.

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Who is on the board of directors for Tesla?

Helping to shape the company's direction, the board of directors has various responsibilities that ensure the company is well managed. Investors often pay close attention to people on the board of directors since their stock purchases or sales may provide insight into how the company is faring.

Tesla's board of directors 2025
Name	Title	Year Elected to the board
Elon Musk	CEO of Tesla	2004
Robyn M. Denholm	Chairman of the Board	2014
Ira Ehrenpreis	Founder and managing partner of DBL Partners	2007
Joe Gebbia	Co-founder	2022
James Murdoch	Former CEO of Twenty-First Century Fox	2017
Kimbal Musk	Board Member of Tesla	2004
JB Straubel	Co-Founder of Tesla	2005 & 2023
Kathleen Wilson-Thompson	Former VP of Walgreens Boots Alliance	2018
Jack Hartung	Senior Advisor at Chipotle	2025

Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

An executive who is responsible for overseeing a company's technology strategy and assets.

FAQ

About the Author

Scott Levine is a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst covering energy, industrials, technology, and materials. He is also a high school English teacher and a small business owner. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing from Binghamton University, a master’s degree in secondary education from Adelphi University, and an advanced certificate in school building leadership from CUNY Queens College. A crossword puzzle enthusiast, he has solved more than 3,100 New York Times puzzles with a 97% solve rate.

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Scott Levine has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends PayPal and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends BlackRock and recommends the following options: long January 2027 $42.50 calls on PayPal and short December 2025 $75 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.