10 Major Tesla Shareholders: Who Owns TSLA Stock in 2023?

Tesla (TSLA) is undoubtedly the pioneer in the production of electric vehicles.

The company’s success in developing stylish, state-of-the-art plug-in cars is catapulting electric vehicles from the niche into the mainstream market amid the global energy transition.

Tesla , named after the American-Serbian inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla , is inextricably associated with Elon Musk, the CEO and largest shareholder.

The temperamental and eccentric entrepreneur, who is also involved in several other tech projects, wields considerable power within the company.

According to the company’s website, Elon is responsible for all product design, engineering and global manufacturing of Tesla ‘s electric cars, battery and solar energy products .

Elon’s erratic actions and statements often result in extreme fluctuations in Tesla ‘s stock price .

An example of this is his tweet on August 7, 2018 that he might take Tesla private at a price of 420USD per share, which, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), represented a significant premium to the stock market price at the time.

Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018

The SEC filed fraud charges against Tesla . This resulted in his firing as Tesla chairman and a hefty fine totaling 40 million USD for Musk and Tesla in September 2018.

In 2022, the company’s stock price fell more than 60% after Musk bought the social media platform Twitter , which was later renamed X.

Tesla remains the world’s largest electric vehicle maker, although its market capitalization has roughly halved from a peak of 1.23 trillion USD on November 6, 2021 to 627.39 billion USD in October 2023.

As a publicly traded company, it has other investors besides Elon Musk who own a large number of TSLA shares.

Analysis of Tesla shareholders

The Silicon Valley-based automaker has various investors, including individuals, retail investors and institutional shareholders.

As of June 30, 2023, Tesla had 3.179 billion shares based on Nasdaq data .

According to WallStreetZen, institutional shareholders hold 41.8% of Tesla ‘s outstanding shares . Insiders, including founder Elon Musk and other executives, own 13.94%, while retail investors account for the remaining 44.62%.

Who owns the most Tesla shares?

Below you can find out more about who owns the most Tesla shares among private and institutional shareholders.

The 5 largest individual shareholders

1. Elon Musk

According to Tesla ‘s 2022 annual report, CEO and founder Elon Musk owns 715.022 million securities, representing 20.6% of the 3.169 billion shares outstanding (as of end-March 2023, unchanged from end-December 2022 ). This makes Musk Tesla ‘s largest shareholder .

Musk has been Tesla ‘s board member since April 2004 and has served as its CEO since October 2008. The eccentric entrepreneur and tech genius also owns a number of technology companies, including the rocket and spaceship manufacturer

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation , or Space , as well as the social media platform X , formerly known as Twitter . He bought Twitter in October 2022 for 44 billion USD.

Before founding SpaceX , Musk was involved in the creation of the electronic payment system PayPal, which was acquired by eBay in October 2022.

2. Zachary Kirkhorn

According to Tesla’s 2022 annual report, Zachary J. Kirkhorn was Tesla ‘s second-largest individual shareholder with 2.68 million shares . He held 0.08% of the shares.

However, in August 2023, Kirkhorn unexpectedly resigned as Tesla ‘s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) .

Tesla and Kirkhorn have not provided an explanation for his resignation.

Since Kirkhorn’s exit, there has been no new information about his stock ownership.

3. Kimbal Musk

According to an SEC report, Elon’s younger brother owns 1.60 million Tesla shares (as of April 2, 2023).

At the end of March 2023, there were 2.05 million, according to TSLA’s 2022 annual report. Although he is one of Tesla ‘s major shareholders , his stake represents only 0.05% of the company’s outstanding shares.

For more than twenty years, Kimbal has been involved in the creation of various businesses in technology, hospitality, entertainment and agriculture.

However, his passion lies in the culinary industry, where he owns a number of restaurants, including the farm-to-table restaurant The Kitchen , which he opened in 2004 .

From 2013 to 2019 he was the director of Chipotle Mexican Grill . He is also the founder of urban farming companies Square Roots and BigGreen .

In addition to his grocery business, Kimbal also works at Elon’s company and in the technology industry. He works as a director at Tesla .

Until January 2022, he was managing director of Elon’s SpaceX . Additionally, Kimbal is the co-founder and CEO of drone technology company Nova Sky Stories .

4. Ira Ehrenpreis

Tesla ‘s independent director held 1.68 million  shares at the end of March, according to its 2022 annual report , representing 0.05% of the electric car maker’s outstanding shares.

Ehrenpreis is the founder and managing partner of venture capital firm DBL Partners , which invests in clean energy, healthcare, information technology, and sustainable products and services.

5. Robyn Denholm

The Australian CEO owns 1.67 million shares in Tesla .

Denholm, who has been an independent director of Tesla since 2014 , has worked for technology and automotive companies in Australia including Telstra Corporation Limited and Toyota Motor Australia .

The 5 largest institutional shareholders

1. The Vanguard Group

The world’s second-largest asset management company owned 222.48 million shares of Tesla , representing nearly 7% of all the automaker’s securities as of June 30, 2023, according to Nasdaq . As of March 31, 2023, there were still 217.85 million USD.

Unlike other asset management firms, the Pennsylvania-based company is not owned by shareholders. Instead, it belongs to the investors who put their money in the company’s fund.

As of April 2023, Vanguard had 8.2 trillion USD in assets under management (AUM), according to ADV Ratings .

2. BlackRock

At the end of June 2023, BlackRock held 185.89 million shares of Tesla , representing 5.8% of shares outstanding.

The New York-based company is the world’s largest asset management firm with 9.1 trillion USD in AUM, according to ADV Ratings .

The market capitalization is 95 billion USD (as of October 16, 2023).

3. State Street Corporation

The Massachusetts-based company is one of the world’s leading asset managers with 3.7 trillion USD in AUM and 40 trillion USD in assets under custody as of September 30, 2023.

As of June 30, 2023, State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) owned 104.11 million Tesla shares worth 20.54 billion USD, making it the third largest institutional shareholder in the group, according to data from Nasdaq .

State Street Corporation ‘s holding represents 3.27% of Tesla ‘s outstanding shares .

4. Geode Capital Management

Geode Capital Management is Tesla ‘s fourth largest institutional shareholder with 51.66 million securities valued at 10.19 billion USD, representing 1.62% of Tesla ‘s shares outstanding .

Founded in 2001, the Massachusetts-based asset management company has 1 billion USD in assets.

5. Capital World Investors

The private company is one of the oldest asset managers in the world. Its origins date back to the 1930s, during the Great Depression.

According to ADV Ratings, the US firm ranks tenth among the world’s largest asset management companies with $2.3 trillion in assets under management (as of June 30, 2023).

Capital World Investors owns 42.27 million shares of the electric car maker’s stock, valued at 8.3 billion USD. This represents 1.3% of Tesla ‘s outstanding shares .

Conclusion

Elon Musk is Tesla ‘s largest shareholder . He owns around 20% of the company’s total outstanding shares.

This means that its shareholding is far more significant than that of other private and institutional shareholders.

In contrast, Vanguard and BlackRoc k, Tesla ‘s two largest institutional shareholders , hold 6.9% and 5.8% of the shares, respectively, while individuals account for less than 1%.

With an overwhelmingly large stake, Elon will continue to have a significant impact on Tesla ‘s future business and growth.

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