Speculation around SpaceX-Tesla merger builds up

本站添加: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]Welcome back. As we gear up for the SpaceX IPO next month, what are the odds of a SpaceX merger with Tesla? Sema Modi has that story for us. Are people talking about this, Sema?

[00:00:09]>> They certainly are, Sarah. What we learned is that Elon Musk has engaged in thought experiments around folding Tesla into SpaceX's ecosystem given the synergistic opportunities. That's according to people directly familiar with the matter who spoke to myself and digital reporter Laura Coladney. What we found first and foremost, Tesla and SpaceX share talent. Musk is CEO and sits on the board of both companies as does his brother Kimble. SpaceX board members Antonio Gracias and Steve Jervson previously sat on Tesla's board.

[00:00:36]And there's another key figure, Charles Khman, who serves as vice president of materials engineering for both companies. He's known, guys, for playing a central role in troubleshooting key design issues for both businesses. In fact, we're told engineers from SpaceX and Tesla often collaborate on solving issues related to energy GPU constraints. Now, a deal of this size would be complex with SpaceX having a potentially market cap of $ 1.5 trillion once it goes public. While Tesla is currently sitting at around 1.6, legal experts we spoke to um said that a SpaceX Tesla merger wouldn't really invite antirust concerns, but would raise some important questions on valuation. Tesla shareholders shareholders will want to know are they how are they getting compensated and if it will be a one forone trade while SpaceX investors will likely want to know if they are overpaying. One thing is clear Sarah and Carl with Musk retaining 85% voting power in SpaceX.

[00:01:29]He's likely not going to receive a lot of push back should he decide to pursue a merger.

[00:01:35]I'm just thinking of all of the aspirational notes from Adam Jonas over the years where he would draw scenarios or you have Optimus robots working on the moon. You'd have the Boring Company drilling tunnels on the moon, things like that.

[00:01:48]>> Yeah, I mean his empire is certainly widening. And the idea of cross collaboration, to your point, Carl, is something that a lot of uh market participants have been brainstorming around. And you just think about what SpaceX will be viewed at at some point if Tesla is in the full because now you'll have rockets, satellites, social media, GPU, uh, GPUs as well as electric cars.

[00:02:08]>> I guess the question would be why because right I mean I guess it would be to for balance sheet I mean to use the capital but both of them have been have had seemingly a good reception from investors when it comes to they have access to capital. Well, again, I think there's one area for collaboration with a lot of the engineering talent from SpaceX and Tesla already working together on troubleshooting some of the issues that they face at hand when it comes to power constraints, sourcing, uh, compute. But the other thing is, as we saw in the S1, there are performance-based metrics that Musk must achieve in order to get that special performance bonus. He has to get the market cap of SpaceX to 7.5 trillion. A merger would get him to around 3.5 trillion and also, of course, 1 million inhabitants on Mars. But there's that.

[00:02:51]Yes, >> lofty goal.

[00:02:52]>> I'll tell you the other thing that's kind of interesting is the the reminder almost on a daily basis now about the value of Starlink, which we now know is a huge part of SpaceX's success. Today, it's about the story whether or not they hiked prices on the Pentagon during the Iranian war. But then just a few moments ago, the American Airlines announcement, another carrier using it for Wi-Fi. and Carl and Sarah, I think that S1 really provided that level of insight on just how profitable and how much money is coming in with Starling. In fact, one of the sources I spoke to was we were gathering information around this specific story on a possible merger was would Musk consider a spin-off of Starling given the success we've seen of spin-offs over the past two years, whether it's uh GE or some of the healthcare companies.

[00:03:35]>> A lot to ponder there. He's got a lot of options. Thank you, Sema.