Friday, Sep. 22, 2023
Is Elon Musk the founder of Tesla?
Tesla Inc. was founded in 2003 by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, according to several sources, including Britannica, TheStreet.com, CNN and Benzinga financial news service.
A Sept. 18, 2023, post on Facebook's Politics Wisconsin page shared an image that said Elon Musk was not a founder.
The Austin, Texas-based company, best known for manufacturing Tesla electric vehicles, calls Musk a co-founder. Beginning in 2004, he was a major investor and served as the company chair. He has been CEO since 2008.
Bank of America said in June that Tesla’s share of the electric vehicle market was 62% in 2022, but predicted it would drop to 18% by 2026.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica Tesla, Inc. | History, Cars, Elon Musk, & Facts
- TheStreet History of Tesla: Timeline and Facts
- CNN The History of Tesla and Elon Musk: A Radical Vision for the Future of Autos
- Yahoo Finance Benzinga: Elon Musk Wasn't The Original Founder of Tesla — The Forgotten Founders Behind The Iconic Brand
- Facebook: Politics- Wisconsin (archive) Post: September 18, 2023
- Tesla Elon Musk
- Yahoo Finance Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) Company Profile & Facts
- CNBC Tesla's U.S. electric vehicle market share will drop to 18% by 2026, BofA estimates
About fact briefs
Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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