Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shareholders are seeking more security for CEO Elon Musk after the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk. Here's a look at how much Tesla spends annually on security detail.
What Happened: As the world's richest man and head of a company, Musk may be the target of his fair share of enemies. Add in his rising role in politics and vandalism against Tesla vehicles and shareholders concerns could be valid.
Tesla investor and shareholder activist Alexandra Merz, also known as TeslaBoomerMama on social media, recently took to X to ask the Tesla Board of Directors to put a bigger emphasis on Musk's security.
"Tesla and the Board, can you please increase this drastically? We wrote you a shareholder letter more than a year ago," Merz tweeted, while sharing a chart of the spending on Musk's security.
The post by Merz drew a personal response from Musk.
"Definitely need to enhance security," Musk replied.
Why It's Important: A chart shared by Merz shows that Tesla spent $3.3 million on Musk's security From January 2024 through February 2025, or around $235,000 per month. That was up from $2.9 million from January 2023 to February 2024.
A New York Times report in September 2024 said Musk uses security company Gavin de Becker and Associates for security and also started his own security company Foundation Security.
Some of the security costs for Musk are reportedly split between his various companies, including Tesla and SpaceX. A user on social media asked Merz on X about the amount SpaceX spends on security, but the answer is unknown.
While $3.3 million may sound like a lot, it is significantly lower than what Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) spends to protect their CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
A report found that Meta spent $23.4 million last year in security costs for Zuckerberg, or seven times what Tesla spends on Musk.
The larger amount comes as Musk has been more of a target of criticism and enemies on social media due to his vocal political opinions. A report from Teslarati said threats against Musk increased on platforms like Reddit and Bluesky after Kirk's death.
Tyler Robinson was charged on Friday in the killing of Kirk and is being held without bail in a Utah jail on multiple counts, including aggravated murder. Authorities were alerted after one of Robinson's family members contacted a friend, who then notified law enforcement, according to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.
Other companies spend less on their security, with the New York Times saying Apple spends $820,000 annually on security for CEO Tim Cook and Amazon.com spends $1.6 million on security annually for founder Jeff Bezos.
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