Inside Elon Musk's mushrooming security apparatus in Tesla factories

Musk has cultivated devil-may-care persona, travelling world, hanging out with moguls, leaders, celebrities, and smoking in public, but in private, he has barricaded himself behind armed bodyguards

The day before Elon Musk spoke at a celebration for Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck pickup in November, a Florida man, Paul Overeem, was arrested near the company’s Austin, Texas, factory and accused by the authorities of planning a “mass casualty event” there.
 

The incident later made headlines. What went less noticed is what happened at Tesla’s event, which went ahead at the Austin factory.
 

Security had been alerted to Overeem’s threats and was fully activated, according to two people with knowledge of the arrangements and documents viewed by The New York Times. The list of invitees was carefully curated, with each person screened well ahead of time. More than three dozen Tesla security officials were then stationed throughout the room when Musk, who runs the carmaker, took the stage. He also had bodyguards from his private security firm, Foundation Security, on hand.
 

 

Musk, 53, has long cultivated a devil-may-care persona, travelling the world, hanging out with moguls, world leaders and celebrities, and smoking weed in public. But in private, he has increasingly barricaded himself behind a growing phalanx of armed bodyguards as he has become more wealthy, more famous and more outspoken — and as the threats against him have evolved.
 

The world’s richest man, with a net worth of more than $240 billion now regularly deals with stalkers and death threats, according to police documents and internal Tesla records. While many high-profile people face threats, Musk has transformed his own protection in recent years to deal with the change, expanding an already robust personal security beyond that of other billionaires. Musk and his companies Tesla and SpaceX have paid millions of dollars a year for his security.
 

His security team now operates like a mini-Secret Service, and he is guarded more like a head of state than a business executive, security experts said. Musk, who was once flanked by two bodyguards, travels with as many as 20 security professionals who show up to research escape routes or to clear a room before he enters. They often carry guns and have a medical professional in tow for Musk, who has been code-named ‘Voyager’ by his security team.
 

The way Musk lives now is different from others who are ultrawealthy. Warren E. Buffett, who is worth more than $145 billion, employed just one personal bodyguard for many years. (It is unclear how many bodyguards he has now; his spokeswoman said Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett’s company, used several security firms.)
 

Musk’s predecessor at X, Jack Dorsey, often walked miles across San Francisco with no bodyguard. This year, Tesla disclosed in filings for the first time that it paid $2.4 million for a portion of Musk’s protection in 2023. It paid $500,000 in the first two months of 2024, more than five times the average spent every two months in 2019, according to Tesla documents. From 2015 to 2018, Musk spent an average $145,000 a month on security, according to invoices and receipts viewed by The Times.

In contrast, Apple spent $820,000 last year to protect its chief executive, Tim Cook, while Amazon shells out $1.6 million a year to guard its founder, Jeff Bezos. One of the few companies to spend more is Meta, which allocated $23.4 million last year to the security of its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, filings show.

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