Investor's Corner
Tesla spends $0 on ads, still tops automakers in organic engagement: report
A recent report from competitive intelligence analysis firm BrandTotal recently determined that Tesla has the strongest organic engagement in social media among automakers. The electric car maker was able to accomplish this despite spending $0 in paid advertising campaigns on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
For its report, the competitive intelligence firm analyzed all paid and organic social media campaigns initiated by major automotive brands over a 30 day period. These include companies such as Toyota, BMW, Ford, Audi, Honda, Nissan, Infiniti, Lexus, Cadillac, Porsche, and Tesla in the United States. Based on BrandTotal’s figures, it appears that veteran automakers are still investing a large portion of their budget on Facebook, despite the platform seeing a decline in users over the past years.
Toyota is among the automakers who spent the most on Facebook, allocating 62% of its advertising budget to the social media platform. Other carmakers such as BMW (46%), Ford (55%) and Infiniti (52%) also focused their campaigns on the platform. Alon Leibovich, co-founder & CEO of BrandTotal, noted that a plausible reason behind this is Facebook’s older audience, which fits more with the target demographic of the carmakers.
“Facebook reigns supreme for paid campaigns among these four digital channels for major autos. Our data shows that when brands are looking to engage older audiences, they lean on Facebook to do so, while YouTube and Instagram are mostly used to reach younger audiences,” he said.
Other social media platforms that proved popular for advertising were YouTube, which took a third to almost half of the budget of brands like Honda, Cadillac, Porsche, and Audi. Instagram also proved very popular, with Porsche, BMW, and Infiniti spending 30-40% of their ad budget on the photo-sharing platform. Twitter takes the last place in BrandTotal’s list, with only BMW spending 20% of its budget on the site.
Standing in stark contrast from other carmakers is Tesla, which spent $0 in paid advertising on all social media platforms. Despite this, BrandTotal’s results point to the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker having the most organic engagements in social media. Tesla’s presence on Instagram was particularly prolific, with 55% of the company’s social activity happening on the photo-sharing site. Tesla also has a formidable presence on Twitter, with 11% of the company’s social media activity occurring on the platform. Of course, the presence of CEO Elon Musk’s personal Twitter account, which has over 26 million followers, augments Tesla’s social media presence further.
A company’s high organic engagement in social media happens when a brand attracts people that are highly engaged, according to Leibovich. This is particularly true for Tesla’s presence on Twitter, which sees daily activity from both the company’s supporters and skeptics. “Strong brands are able to command high engagement even without a robust digital ad spend. In Tesla’s case, we see their engagement numbers are high compared to other auto brands allocating spend in their digital campaigns. This may be a result of Tesla’s fans already being engaged and active users on Twitter and other platforms. The brand doesn’t feel the need to spend on paid social media marketing when their organic reach is so strong,” he said.
Tesla and Elon Musk’s strong online presence has proven to be a double-edged sword for the electric car maker. Musk’s Twitter account, for example, serves as one of Tesla’s most effective tools for the company to communicate with owners and enthusiasts, but it has also proven to be dangerous. The CEO’s Twitter account, for one, was a key reason behind the creation of safety features such as Sentry Mode, but at the same time, Musk’s tweets have also attracted the ire of regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission. The high interest garnered by Tesla and Elon Musk has also attracted an extraordinary amount of coverage from mainstream media, both negative and positive.
Elon Musk
Tesla stock gets latest synopsis from Jim Cramer: ‘It’s actually a robotics company’
“Turns out it’s actually a robotics and Cybercab company, and I want to buy, buy, buy. Yes, Tesla’s the paper that turned into scissors in one session,” Cramer said.
Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) got its latest synopsis from Wall Street analyst Jim Cramer, who finally realized something that many fans of the company have known all along: it’s not a car company. Instead, it’s a robotics company.
In a recent note that was released after Tesla reported Earnings in late January, Cramer seemed to recognize that the underwhelming financials and overall performance of the automotive division were not representative of the current state of affairs.
Instead, we’re seeing a company transition itself away from its early identity, essentially evolving like a caterpillar into a butterfly.
The narrative of the Earnings Call was simple: We’re not a car company, at least not from a birds-eye view. We’re an AI and Robotics company, and we are transitioning to this quicker than most people realize.
Tesla stock gets another analysis from Jim Cramer, and investors will like it
Tesla’s Q4 Earnings Call featured plenty of analysis from CEO Elon Musk and others, and some of the more minor details of the call were even indicative of a company that is moving toward AI instead of its cars. For example, the Model S and Model X will be no more after Q2, as Musk said that they serve relatively no purpose for the future.
Instead, Tesla is shifting its focus to the vehicles catered for autonomy and its Robotaxi and self-driving efforts.
Cramer recognizes this:
“…we got results from Tesla, which actually beat numbers, but nobody cares about the numbers here, as electric vehicles are the past. And according to CEO Elon Musk, the future of this company comes down to Cybercabs and humanoid robots. Stock fell more than 3% the next day. That may be because their capital expenditures budget was higher than expected, or maybe people wanted more details from the new businesses. At this point, I think Musk acolytes might be more excited about SpaceX, which is planning to come public later this year.”
He continued, highlighting the company’s true transition away from vehicles to its Cybercab, Optimus, and AI ambitions:
“I know it’s hard to believe how quickly this market can change its attitude. Last night, I heard a disastrous car company speak. Turns out it’s actually a robotics and Cybercab company, and I want to buy, buy, buy. Yes, Tesla’s the paper that turned into scissors in one session. I didn’t like it as a car company. Boy, I love it as a Cybercab and humanoid robot juggernaut. Call me a buyer and give me five robots while I’m at it.”
Cramer’s narrative seems to fit that of the most bullish Tesla investors. Anyone who is labeled a “permabull” has been echoing a similar sentiment over the past several years: Tesla is not a car company any longer.
Instead, the true focus is on the future and the potential that AI and Robotics bring to the company. It is truly difficult to put Tesla shares in the same group as companies like Ford, General Motors, and others.
Tesla shares are down less than half a percent at the time of publishing, trading at $423.69.
There are a lot of Tesla bulls out there who have astronomical expectations for the company, especially as its arm of reach has gone well past automotive and energy and entered artificial intelligence and robotics.
However, some of the most bullish Tesla investors believe the company could become worth $100 trillion, and CEO Elon Musk does not believe that number is completely out of the question, even if it sounds almost ridiculous.
To put that number into perspective, the top ten most valuable companies in the world — NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Meta, Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, and Tesla — are worth roughly $26 trillion.
Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI
Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes the number is reasonable considering Tesla’s long-reaching industry ambitions:
“…in the world of AI, what do you have to have to win? You have to have proprietary data, and think about all the proprietary data he has, different kinds of proprietary data. Tesla, the language of the road; Neuralink, multiomics data; nobody else has that data. X, nobody else has that data either. I could see $100 trillion. I think it’s going to happen because of convergence. I think Tesla is the leading candidate [for $100 trillion] for the reason I just said.”
Musk said late last year that all of his companies seem to be “heading toward convergence,” and it’s started to come to fruition. Tesla invested in xAI, as revealed in its Q4 Earnings Shareholder Deck, and SpaceX recently acquired xAI, marking the first step in the potential for a massive umbrella of companies under Musk’s watch.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
Now that it is happening, it seems Musk is even more enthusiastic about a massive valuation that would swell to nearly four-times the value of the top ten most valuable companies in the world currently, as he said on X, the idea of a $100 trillion valuation is “not impossible.”
It’s not impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2026
Tesla is not just a car company. With its many projects, including the launch of Robotaxi, the progress of the Optimus robot, and its AI ambitions, it has the potential to continue gaining value at an accelerating rate.
Musk’s comments show his confidence in Tesla’s numerous projects, especially as some begin to mature and some head toward their initial stages.
Elon Musk
Tesla director pay lawsuit sees lawyer fees slashed by $100 million
The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.
The Delaware Supreme Court has cut more than $100 million from a legal fee award tied to a shareholder lawsuit challenging compensation paid to Tesla directors between 2017 and 2020.
The ruling leaves the case’s underlying settlement intact while significantly reducing what the plaintiffs’ attorneys will receive.
Delaware Supreme Court trims legal fees
As noted in a Bloomberg Law report, the case targeted pay granted to Tesla directors, including CEO Elon Musk, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Kimbal Musk, and Rupert Murdoch. The Delaware Chancery Court had awarded $176 million to the plaintiffs. Tesla’s board must also return stock options and forego years worth of pay.
As per Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. in an opinion for the Delaware Supreme Court’s full five-member panel, however, the decision of the Delaware Chancery Court to award $176 million to a pension fund’s law firm “erred by including in its financial benefit analysis the intrinsic value” of options being returned by Tesla’s board.
The justices then reduced the fee award from $176 million to $70.9 million. “As we measure it, $71 million reflects a reasonable fee for counsel’s efforts and does not result in a windfall,” Chief Justice Seitz wrote.
Other settlement terms still intact
The Supreme Court upheld the settlement itself, which requires Tesla’s board to return stock and options valued at up to $735 million and to forgo three years of additional compensation worth about $184 million.
Tesla argued during oral arguments that a fee award closer to $70 million would be appropriate. Interestingly enough, back in October, Justice Karen L. Valihura noted that the $176 award was $60 million more than the Delaware judiciary’s budget from the previous year. This was quite interesting as the case was “settled midstream.”
The lawsuit was brought by a pension fund on behalf of Tesla shareholders and focused exclusively on director pay during the 2017–2020 period. The case is separate from other high-profile compensation disputes involving Elon Musk.
Tesla adds a new feature to Navigation in preparation for a new vehicle
Tesla stock gets latest synopsis from Jim Cramer: ‘It’s actually a robotics company’
