Tesla’s latest SEC filing has pulled back the curtain on a vast and intricate network of financial dealings between the electric vehicle giant and entities tied to its CEO, Elon Musk. As a publicly traded company, Tesla is required to disclose any significant transactions with affiliated parties, and its 2024 through early 2025 disclosures showcase the deep interweaving of Musk’s empire.
SpaceX, another Musk-founded powerhouse, continues to have operational ties with Tesla. In 2024, it incurred $2.4 million in expenses related to “commercial, licensing and support agreements” with Tesla, plus another $0.1 million in early 2025. While Tesla didn’t provide specifics, it’s widely known that the companies share engineering resources, including a material science team and ERP systems. Additionally, SpaceX has billed Tesla for Musk’s private jet usage—a long-running arrangement dating back to 2016, which cost Tesla $0.8 million in 2024 and $40,000 so far in 2025.
Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, now called X, has led to Tesla dipping its toes into advertising, something it avoided for years. The company spent $400,000 on advertising on X in 2024, and a modest $10,000 through February 2025. Tesla’s official filing noted, “X is party to certain commercial, consulting and support agreements with Tesla,” which incurred $100,000 in 2024. While still a relatively small investment, the timing and intent raise questions about whether Tesla is helping bolster the ad-based revenue model of Musk’s latest venture.
One of the more substantial transactions involved xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence startup. Tesla’s records show that xAI purchased $198.3 million worth of goods and services in 2024 and $36.9 million so far in 2025, with most of that tied to Megapack battery systems for powering AI data centers. According to the filing, “Approximately $191.0 million during 2024 and $36.8 million through February 2025 was incurred by xAI for its purchase of our Megapack products.” These are some of the largest individual line items in the disclosure and represent a rapidly growing collaboration.
That said, not all dealings are fully accounted for. Some expenses remain unexplained, and Musk previously admitted to diverting NVIDIA hardware meant for Tesla’s own supercomputing cluster to xAI.
Tesla also paid $3.6 million to The Boring Company in 2024 and another $800,000 in early 2025. This likely relates to a tunnel being built at Gigafactory Texas, designed to streamline Cybertruck logistics. While the specifics weren’t disclosed, these infrastructure efforts suggest more long-term synergy between Tesla and the underground transport firm.
In a more personal line item, Tesla paid $2.8 million in 2024 and $500,000 in early 2025 to a security firm owned by Musk, responsible for the CEO’s protection. The filing notes: “Tesla incurred expenses… representing a portion of the total cost of security services concerning Elon Musk.” These costs are climbing steadily, up from $2.4 million in 2023, and are on track to exceed $3 million in 2025.
Longtime Tesla executive JB Straubel, now CEO of Redwood Materials, reentered Tesla’s corporate orbit via the board. Tesla supplied Redwood with $30.3 million worth of scrap materials in 2024 and $600,000 more in early 2025 for recycling and reuse, fitting with both companies’ sustainability ethos.
Finally, Tesla paid $300,000 to Nova Sky Stories, a drone light show company led by Kimbal Musk, Elon’s brother and a Tesla board member. The money went toward an “aerial show,” as described in the filing, underscoring how even creative ventures are getting a slice of Tesla’s operational budget.
