Elon Musk has taken a big step toward creating Elon Inc.
The world’s richest person said on Tuesday that SpaceX and Tesla were exploring a merger, which would consolidate his interests in rockets, electric cars and artificial intelligence into a multitrillion-dollar behemoth.
Mr. Musk is both the chief executive and the largest shareholder of both companies. During an earnings call for SpaceX, he said that the boards of the rocket maker and the electric car manufacturer had formed special committees of independent directors to consider a merger.
“Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes,” he said. But as a conflicted party, who could essentially decide the terms of the deal, he will not be in on the discussions, he added.
Mr. Musk’s statements were the clearest sign that he is exploring whether to create a technology giant that could be worth some $3.5 trillion given the companies’ current market values. Since SpaceX held its initial public offering in June, its executives have publicly flirted with the idea of combining Mr. Musk’s two crown jewels.
The idea of a merger has garnered support not only from Mr. Musk, but also from his legions of fans and investors, who see synergies in software development and hardware manufacturing between SpaceX, which encompasses rockets, A.I. models and the Starlink satellite internet service, and Tesla, which makes cars, self-driving technology and robots.
But a consolidation of Mr. Musk’s business empire has also raised concerns from some lawmakers and critics, who believe that the world’s richest person, whose net worth has recently hovered around $1 trillion, has already amassed too much power.
Mr. Musk, Tesla and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.
SpaceX’s stock jumped more than 9 percent in early trading on Wednesday, while Tesla’s gained about 3 percent.
On Wednesday afternoon, Tesla reported a second consecutive quarterly decline in profit as the company poured resources into self-driving cars, humanoid robots and other new technologies. Net profit fell to $787 million in the third quarter from $1.4 billion a year earlier, the company said. Sales were $28 billion, little changed from a year earlier.
Beyond sharing a chief executive, Tesla and SpaceX have deep connections. Mr. Musk has moved money and workers between companies, and the carmaker has sold hundreds of millions of dollars in batteries and vehicles to the rocket maker, according to financial filings. Tesla invested in xAI, the A.I. company that merged with SpaceX this year, and Tesla and SpaceX plan to produce A.I. chips together at a joint factory called Terafab.
Micah Walter-Range, an analyst for VettaFi Space Index, a stock index that tracks commercial space companies, called a merger between SpaceX and Tesla “an intriguing concept.”
“It’s not hard to see why a vertically integrated company seems attractive,” he said. “Tesla robots linked by Starlink to xAI data centers for control and A.I. model training purposes would give SpaceX an end-to-end advantage that nobody else could replicate quickly.”
Last week, during a launch event for Tesla’s new Roadster, Mr. Musk looked on as a vehicle deployed thrusters under its chassis that lifted the car over a row of other Tesla vehicles, including a Semi truck. The car did a flip as it passed overhead.
Mr. Musk said SpaceX engineers had worked on the Tesla product. The demonstration showed “what happens when you have a collaboration with the world’s best car company and the world best rocket company,” he noted.
For months, Mr. Musk and his executives have hinted at the idea of a merger. When SpaceX went public in June, its president and chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, told CNBC that “there’s no question that there are synergies between Tesla and SpaceX in our futures.” She also said a deal between SpaceX and Tesla “might make Elon’s life a little easier.”
Last month, when asked about the possibility of a tie-up onstage at a technology conference in Los Angeles, Mr. Musk said: “Who can imagine what action one might take when there’s so much close collaboration.”
Mr. Musk wields an enormous amount of power and influence at both companies. He controls roughly 20 percent of shareholder votes at Tesla and more than 80 percent of votes at SpaceX. A merger would give Mr. Musk much greater control over Tesla, which he has long sought. In 2024, he demanded that Tesla give him 25 percent of the company if it wanted him to keep working on products based on A.I.
The boards of both companies are stacked with his allies, including the directors considered independent for corporate governance purposes. The boards feature longtime investors, a family member and friends, some of whom have vacationed with Mr. Musk. Ira Ehrenpreis, an investor who has been close to Mr. Musk for years, is an independent director at both Tesla and SpaceX.
Tesla’s chairwoman, Robyn Denholm, vigorously campaigned last year for a pay package of more than $1 trillion for Mr. Musk that was approved by shareholders. The compensation was justified because he made achievements “that no one else has done before, doing things that further humankind, that have an impact on the world,” she told The New York Times last year.
On Tuesday, Mr. Musk said the special committees considering a merger had been formed “at the request of shareholders,” but did not clarify when or how those requests were made. Corporate law in Texas, where Tesla and SpaceX have their corporate domiciles, makes it difficult for aggrieved investors to challenge management decisions.
He said agreement on a deal by Tesla would require 50 percent of all shareholder votes. Although not directly involved in the merger talks, he later noted that the committees had not yet “reached an agreement on the terms of any transaction and there’s no guarantee that they will.”
But, he added, “I do think there’s a lot of merit to combining the companies.”
Recently, Mr. Musk has used his X account, which has more than 241 million followers, to rally fans and investors into voting for his favored company initiatives. Ahead of the vote for his latest Tesla pay package, both he and the company used their accounts on the social platform, now owned by SpaceX, to encourage shareholders to approve the plan.
After SpaceX’s earnings call, Mr. Musk used his X account to hype up the company and predict that it could generate $1 trillion in annual revenue in the next few years. On Tuesday, SpaceX reported third-quarter revenue of $14.5 billion.
The potential megamerger would cap an incredible 12 months of personal dealmaking by Mr. Musk, who merged xAI with SpaceX before taking that combined entity public in June. His net worth has skyrocketed, and he has become by far the biggest known political donor ahead of November’s midterm elections, spending more than $276 million to support Republican groups.
If Democrats retake either house of Congress, however, there may be greater scrutiny over Mr. Musk’s companies, said Ross Gerber, the chief executive of Gerber Kawasaki, an investment firm that owns SpaceX stock. The investor noted that Mr. Musk had a small window in which to complete a deal.
“The longer he waits, the less time he has,” Mr. Gerber said.
- Credits: The New York Times
- Author: Ryan Mac and Jack Ewing
- Photo: Jeenah Moon/Reuters
