{"id":2210154,"date":"2026-10-21T04:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T01:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2210154"},"modified":"2026-10-21T04:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T01:13:14","slug":"tesla-and-spacex-why-does-elon-musk-want-to-merge-the-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2210154","title":{"rendered":"Tesla and SpaceX: Why does Elon Musk want to merge the companies?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/a691\/live\/0777e580-cd28-11f1-bc2e-018d645d8d21.png”]<\/p>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images\/Reuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Elon Musk has spent years building Tesla and SpaceX into a pair of trillion-dollar technology empires. Now, he is considering bringing them together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Asked on Tuesday whether a merger would be a good idea, Musk was clear: “Yes.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The prospect is more than hypothetical. Musk said special committees have been formed to assess a potential deal, although he stressed that there is no guarantee a merger will happen and that nothing has been agreed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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With Tesla valued at roughly $1.5 trillion (\u00a31.1 trillion) and SpaceX at $2 trillion, a combination of the two companies would mark the largest merger ever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Any deal would also need shareholder backing. But Musk said he saw “a lot to be gained” in bringing the businesses together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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How likely is the merger?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“In my opinion, 100%. It’s just a question of when,” says David Nicholson, chief technology advisor at market research firm The Futurum Group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The unveiling of the Tesla Roadster last week – a futuristic electric car powered by SpaceX rocket thrusters – served as a “symbolic embodiment” hinting at the two Musk companies merging, Nicholson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Musk, chief executive of both SpaceX and Tesla, said bringing the firms together would be beneficial given the work each does around chips, artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology projects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Specifically, the deal would combine Tesla’s cars, robots and self-driving technology with SpaceX’s rockets, data centres, satellites and telecommunications operations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The move could be a step towards Musk’s mission to build a self-sustaining city on Mars – a vision that has invited sceptics but also plenty of backers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Over the past year, Musk has moved to consolidate his businesses, with SpaceX acquiring xAI and X, formerly Twitter, before going public this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Watch: Did Tesla really just unveil a flying car?<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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But the merger would ultimately be decided by shareholders, with half of Tesla’s needed to back the deal, a threshold even Musk described as “quite a high hurdle”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Musk, as boss of both companies, cannot participate in shareholder discussions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Even so, Musk, a key shareholder of Tesla, will likely get his way in the next few years, said investment analyst Dan Sheehan from Telos Wealth Advisors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He believes shareholders will back the deal as the technology the companies develop complement each other, Sheehan said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But the merger would mean that Tesla shareholders will likely hold a “smaller slice of a much larger and more complex business,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“There’s no real precedent for how a public company like Tesla gets priced in this,” Sheehan said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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SpaceX shares rose 8% in after hours trading while shares of Tesla climbed by 2%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What would it mean for customers?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Experts told the BBC that Tesla drivers are unlikely to see much drastic change in the near term, even if the two companies combine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In fact, vehicles seem almost like “an afterthought”, overshadowed by the potential to combine the Tesla and SpaceX’s tech capabilities, Nicholson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Changes are already underway at Tesla. The carmaker said earlier this year that it would prioritise its best-selling Model Y and Model 3, shifting focus away from less popular models.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tesla also started using a manufacturing plant in California to produce humanoid robots, known as Optimus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"NurPhotoNurPhoto via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Tesla’s vehicle line-up includes the Cybertruck and Model 3<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Pairing Tesla’s self-driving technology and robotics with SpaceX’s AI and satellite network could result in more capable vehicles, Sheehan said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The question is how much priority cars get inside a company increasingly driven by AI infrastructure,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The recent Roadster showcase suggests SpaceX technology could be pulled into future Tesla products, which could attract more customers, said Tu Le, the founder of advisory firm Sino Auto Insights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Cybertruck-maker faces intense competition from Chinese carmakers like BYD, which overtook Tesla as the world’s biggest EV maker in January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What does Musk get out of it? <\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The biggest winner is probably Musk – the world’s richest man who also became the world’s first trillionaire earlier this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The merger would give Musk greater voting control over the combined company than he currently has at Tesla, a factor the special committee assessing the deal would have to consider.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A single company makes it easier for Musk to run his AI strategy the way he wants, Sheehan said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The deal itself doesn’t add to Musk’s wealth, but it concentrates it further in one stock,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Taking Stock: Who owns Space?<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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However, the merger could attract scrutiny over Musk, already a polarising figure in the US, Nicholson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The move could also face more regulatory pressure if Democrats – many of whom have been critical of Musk – win more seats in the US midterm elections next month. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Shareholders have backed Musk’s desires before. Last year, Tesla investors approved an unprecedented compensation package for Musk valued around $1tn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I honestly don’t think Musk will be keeping track of what the merger will do for his wealth,” Nicholson said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The deal also brings Musk closer to what Nicholson says is “his mission in life”: colonising Mars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cr93z1e87e0do”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/a691\/live\/0777e580-cd28-11f1-bc2e-018d645d8d21.png”] Getty Images\/Reuters Elon Musk has spent years building Tesla and SpaceX into a pair of trillion-dollar technology empires. Now, he is considering bringing them together. Asked on Tuesday whether a merger would be a good idea, Musk was clear: “Yes.” The prospect is more than hypothetical. Musk said special committees have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2210154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2210154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2210154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2210154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2210154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}