Skip to content

Musk says Tesla and SpaceX merger 'a good idea'

techOct 21, 202618437

Elon Musk said on Tuesday that merging Tesla and SpaceX would be a good idea and that special committees have been formed to assess a potential deal, though he warned nothing is agreed. Tesla is valued at roughly $1.5 trillion and SpaceX at about $2 trillion, so a combination would be the largest merger in history and would require roughly half of Tesla shareholders to approve the transaction. Musk argued the companies complement each other on chips, artificial intelligence, robotics and telecommunications, combining Tesla cars, robots and self-driving tech with SpaceX rockets, satellites, data centres and telecoms. David Nicholson of The Futurum Group pointed to last week’s Tesla Roadster reveal, which used SpaceX thrusters, as a symbolic hint of convergence, while Dan Sheehan of Telos Wealth Advisors said shareholders will likely back the deal but own a smaller slice of a more complex business. Musk cannot participate in the shareholder vote process as chief executive of both firms. Shares responded in after-hours trading, with SpaceX rising about 8 percent and Tesla about 2 percent, and observers say near-term changes for Tesla drivers would probably be limited even if the merger proceeds.

3 sources