Who Owns Tesla?

Elon Musk is the majority shareholder of Tesla Motors with 172.6 million shares. Other shareholders include BlackRock Fund Advisors. Learn more here.
Written by Rob Shapiro
Reviewed by Jessica Barrett
Founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, Tesla is a publicly-traded company with Elon Musk as its largest shareholder. Its other main shareholders include The Vanguard Group, BlackRock Fund Advisors, and Geode Capital Management LLC. 
It wasn’t long ago that electric cars were the punchline of the car manufacturing industry. They were mocked and seen as everything that a car shouldn’t be. In the 1990s, Eberhard and Tarpenning set out to change that. After meeting Elon Musk, who shortly would go on to sell PayPal to Google, they would do just that. 
Keep reading if you want to learn more about Tesla, one of the most important and talked about companies in the world.
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Who owns Tesla?

Tesla is a publicly-traded company. This means its true ownership is divided into shares that are available to the public to purchase. So, anyone with a share is technically an owner, but there is a wide range of who owns what percentage of shares. 
Tesla was incorporated in 2003 and went public in 2010. There are 2,100,000,000 shares that can be issued to the public. 
Musk is the primary shareholder, with 172.6 million shares(roughly 17%). Some of its other shareholders (and their stakes) include:
  • BlackRock Fund Advisors (3.355%)
  • SSgA Funds Management (3.14%)
  • Geode Capital Management LLC (1.315%)
  • Baillie Gifford & Co. (1.05%)
  • Jennison Associates LLC (1.03%)
  • Fidelity Management (0.92%)
Today, the company has a market capitalization of over $900 billion. Part of Tesla’s worth is that it owns the patent to the Supercharger, the electric car charging station. 
MORE: Tesla's supercharger network is growing faster than ever

Where are Tesla cars made?

The most notable plant that manufactures Tesla cars is in
Fremont, California
. Here are some of the factories that produce the Tesla line of cars:
Fremont Factory
  • Located outside of
    San Francisco
    , this is Tesla’s original hub of EV manufacturing. It houses over 10,000 Tesla employees.
Gigafactory 1 - Giga,
Nevada
  • Located in Giga, Nevada near
    Reno
    . Here, they produce electric motors and lithium-ion battery packs.
Gigafactory 2 - Giga,
New York
  • Located in
    Buffalo
    . Its focus is mostly on solar energy,not electric vehicles.
Gigafactory 3 - Giga, Shanghai
  • The latest Gigafactory, this one assembles Tesla vehicles in its 9.3 million sq. ft. facility. It is responsible for the final assembly of the
    Tesla Model 3
    and the production of the
    Model Y
Tesla is in the process of opening more factories worldwide, including in Berlin and
Texas
Key Takeaway Tesla cars are made all over the world. Factory locations include California, Nevada, Shanghai, and Buffalo.
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A short history of Tesla ownership

The company was founded by engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. They shared a passion for entrepreneurship and cars. In 2001, they met Elon Musk after attending one of his speaking engagements at Stanford University.
Musk cofounded PayPal with Peter Thiel and Max Levchin and sold it to eBay in 2002. The money that Musk made from this sale (estimated to be around $165 million) helped him launch
Space X
, an aerospace company that designs and manufactures rockets and spacecrafts.
Tesla was incorporated in 2003. They aimed to invent electric cars that were fun to drive, fast, powerful, sleek looking and—most importantly—had zero emissions. Their operations included two more co-founders, JB Straubel (Tesla’s CTO until 2019) and Ian Wright. Wright left in 2004 and would go on to create the EV powertrain company, Wrightspeed. 
Musk quickly became the face of Tesla, so much so that he is often mistakenly thought of as its founder. In 2008, Musk became the CEO of Tesla and still holds that position as of 2022. 
MORE: How to choose an eco-friendly car

How to save money on Tesla insurance

Arguably, there isn’t a more impressive car on the road today than Tesla. They are quite expensive, though, so it helps to save in other places like your
car insurance
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On average, Jerry users save over $800 a year. That’s one reason why Jerry is the #1 rated insurance app in the App Store. 
“Jerry is an amazing app. Thanks to it, I saved a lot of money for my Tesla Model 3’s insurance. I’m so glad I downloaded the app!” —Erza S.
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FAQ

Yes, Tesla is an American manufacturer of electric cars, solar panels, and more.
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