Elon Musk says he favours combining Tesla and SpaceX. He stressed that nothing is settled and that shareholders would have the final say.
What Musk Said
Musk spoke on Tuesday during a call with analysts on SpaceX’s quarterly results. “Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes,” he said.
He added that a deal should not be taken for granted. Special committees have been set up at both companies to study the move, he said, but they have not agreed on any terms and may never do so.
Musk believes a merger would bring “a lot to be gained”. He said it would suit the work both firms are doing on chips, artificial intelligence and software.
A Deal of Historic Size
Tesla is valued at about $1.5 trillion and SpaceX at around $2 trillion. Joined together, they would form one of the largest mergers ever.
Musk said he sits on neither committee. He called himself a “conflicted party” because he runs both companies.
Market Reaction
SpaceX shares climbed 8% in after-hours trading. Tesla stock rose 2% after drifting lower for weeks. Tesla reports its own quarterly results on Wednesday.
SpaceX’s Business Today
SpaceX builds rockets and Starlink internet satellites. It is also moving into cloud computing capacity for other tech firms, including Anthropic and Google.
That unit is now its most profitable, with $7.5bn in revenue in the latest quarter. Starlink brought in $5.2bn. Even so, SpaceX has lost $1.1bn so far this year.
Musk’s Push to Consolidate
Musk has been gathering his businesses under fewer names. Before SpaceX listed on the stock market earlier this year, it bought xAI and X, the former Twitter. The listing also made Musk the first paper trillionaire.
The recent launch of Terafab, a joint chip-making project between Tesla and SpaceX, points the same way.
