Musk Says Merging SpaceX and Tesla Would Be a Good Idea

Elon Musk said on Tuesday that he would like to see his business empire consolidated by formally merging his two largest companies: the space firm SpaceX and the electric-vehicle maker Tesla. Asked whether a merger would be a good idea, he answered yes. He spoke during the question-and-answer portion of SpaceX's third-quarter earnings call.

Musk stressed that the final decision is not his. Shareholders, he said, must be supportive. At the request of shareholders at each company, both SpaceX and Tesla have set up special committees of independent directors to discuss a possible merger. Musk said he is a conflicted party and therefore cannot take part in the committees' discussions. The committees have not yet agreed on the terms of any transaction.

The case for combining

Musk acknowledged there is no guarantee the committees will reach a deal, but said he sees a lot of merit in combining the companies because, in his words, the world is pretty much in the superintelligence singularity. He pointed to potential gains from cooperation on superintelligence software, chip design, the Terafab project, robotics, getting mass to orbit with the Starmind satellite constellation, and connectivity.

Earlier developments

This year has already been busy for Musk's companies. In February, SpaceX acquired his artificial intelligence company xAI. In June, SpaceX went public with the largest initial public offering on record. The source article notes that combining a space business with a carmaker might seem odd, but both companies are rapidly shifting from their original markets toward artificial intelligence.