Tesla disclosed in a regulatory filing that its advertising spend on Elon Musk’s social media platform X has sharply declined in 2025 compared with last year, alongside new details of transactions with other Musk-led ventures and family-linked businesses.
The filing showed Tesla spent $400,000 advertising on X in 2024, but only $10,000 during the first two months of 2025, putting the automaker on pace to spend about $60,000 this year unless activity increases. Over the same period in 2024, Tesla had already spent $200,000.
Tesla, which historically avoided advertising, began experimenting with marketing in 2023 after shareholder pressure. Its campaigns have appeared on Google and YouTube in addition to X. Google’s Ads Transparency database shows Tesla still maintains about 700 active ads across Google platforms. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
The filing also detailed intercompany expenses. Tesla paid SpaceX, Musk’s rocket firm, about $800,000 in 2024 for the use of a private jet, though only $40,000 has been paid so far this year. Security services for Musk continue to be a significant cost, with Tesla paying $2.8 million in 2024 to a Musk-owned security company, up from $2.4 million in 2023. Through February 2025, Tesla reported $500,000 in payments, noting that this represents only “a portion of the total cost of security services concerning Mr. Musk.”
The largest transaction disclosed was with Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI, which paid Tesla $198.3 million in 2024, largely for Megapack battery storage products deployed at xAI’s Tennessee data center. xAI spent another $36.8 million with Tesla in the first two months of 2025.
Tesla also paid $300,000 to Nova Sky Stories, a drone company owned by Musk’s brother and Tesla board member Kimbal Musk, for a show staged at the automaker’s “We, Robot” event in October 2024.