X: The “Everything App” by Elon Musk
X is the new name of the social media platform that was once called Twitter. Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022, after a legal battle with the previous owners. He said he wanted to transform Twitter into an “everything app” that would combine features from Facebook, YouTube, and Weibo, the Chinese social network.
Musk also fired almost 80% of Twitter’s staff, cut all the office perks, and appointed a new CEO. He rebranded the platform as X, an old dream of his since he led PayPal. He said X would be a replica of Weibo, but adapted to fit the Western culture.
X has been struggling to be profitable with advertising, and has turned to subscription services. X Premium is a $8 per month subscription service for X users. It verifies the user, gives them a blue badge, and gets them more visibility. But X also offers a subscription for businesses called “Verified Organizations”, which costs $1,000 a month for the main account and $50 per month for every other affiliated account.
Tesla: A Loyal Supporter of X
Tesla, the world’s most valuable automaker led by Musk, is one of the most prolific supporters of X. The company has 16 verified accounts on X with a gold checkmark. That means Tesla pays $1,750 monthly to be on X. That amounts to $21,000 per year.
Tesla has its main X account with nearly 21 million followers and listed as affiliates the following: Tesla North America; Tesla Europe; Tesla Asia; Tesla Japan; Tesla Korea; Tesla Malaysia; Tesla Singapore; Tesla Hong Kong; Tesla Macau; Tesla Charging; Tesla Energy; Tesla Megapack; Tesla AI; Tesla Optimus; and accounts for executives like Franz von Holzhausen, Drew Baglino, and Tom Zhu.
This strategy is unique to X as Tesla operates only a single official account on other social media platforms, like Instagram and YouTube.
Why Is Tesla Spending So Much on X?
The question that arises is why is Tesla spending so much money on X, which is under the ownership of its CEO, Elon Musk. Public companies, like Tesla, have to disclose any “related transaction” that may have conflict of interest between its executives or board members and any other companies that they have interests in.
For example, Tesla often disclosed dealings with SpaceX over the shared use of Musk’s plane or the latter’s purchase of Tesla parts. Now Tesla will have to disclose and justify its spending on X to its shareholders.
It is not clear what benefits Tesla is getting from being on X. Some of the affiliated accounts have posted very few or no tweets since they were created. For instance, the Tesla Optimus account has posted a single tweet since it was created in January 2023. The accounts for executives also rarely use their accounts for anything other than reposting Tesla’s official posts.
Some analysts have suggested that Tesla is trying to boost X’s popularity and revenue by creating more verified accounts. Others have argued that Tesla is using X as a marketing tool to reach more customers and investors. However, there is no evidence that being on X has increased Tesla’s sales or stock price.
Tesla has not commented on its spending on X or its relationship with Musk’s social media platform.
