Tesla was the first electric-vehicle company to reach a US$1 trillion market capitalization.
Tesla crossed US$1 trillion on October 25, 2021, after its share price surged following news of a major vehicle order from Hertz. The milestone made Tesla one of the small group of companies valued above one trillion dollars by public investors.
Tesla was founded in 2003 and was named after inventor Nikola Tesla. Elon Musk joined the company as an early major investor and became its chief executive in 2008. Its Model 3, introduced for production in the late 2010s, helped expand the company beyond luxury electric cars.
Tesla’s market value has often been debated because it reflected expectations about future vehicle production, batteries, software, and energy products as well as current deliveries. A company’s market capitalization is not the same as its number of vehicles sold or its accounting book value.