Blog: Data Monetization Index for Automobile Manufacturers

December 15, 2021

Summary

Tesla has a Data Monetization Index (DMI) of 8.23% compared to 1.27% for Ford and 1.45% for GM. Tesla’s higher DMI is driven by the valuation of the Full Self-Driving (FSD) dataset, which generates an independent income stream and is also used to improve the quality of the company products as it moves to fully autonomous vehicles.
A higher DMI is generally preferable across companies and industries. By way of reference, internet companies have a higher DMI because most of their enterprise value is derived from data. For example, Google’s DMI is 93 percent as we will discuss in a later blog.

Definitions
  • Data Monetization Index (DMI) = Data Valuation / Enterprise Value
  • Data Valuation = Telematics Data Valuation + Employee Data Valuation + Dealer Data Valuation + Customer Data Valuation + Equipment Data Valuation + Other Asset Valuation (this exercise uses Telematics and Employee Data Valuation exclusively)
  • Enterprise Value =  Equity Value + Long Term Debt - Cash, a key metric used in the investment community
  • Telematics data is information generated by motor vehicles including Tesla FSD, GM OnStar and Ford Pro


Methodology
The YDC team recently published a DMI for major automobile manufacturers in the United States. Here is an example for Tesla along with a benchmark that includes GM and Ford.

The data valuation is based on telematics and employee data from November 2021 only and relies exclusively on publicly-available data sources. Telematics data valuation is based on the estimated net present value of income streams. Employee data valuation is based on comparable transactions in the industry. The total value of data will likely be higher once additional datasets relating to dealers, customers, equipment, financials and real estate are included in the coverage. Going forward, we will be working to make the data valuation more real-time.
Created with