Musk says Tesla-SpaceX merger being considered, special committees formed

Elon Musk has hinted at a possible merger of Tesla and SpaceX, saying the two companies have formed special committees to consider the proposal.

Speaking during SpaceX’s earnings call webcast on Wednesday, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive officer said shareholder support would be necessary for any transaction to proceed.

“I don't think we should assume that a merger is a certainty. Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes. But at the end of the day, shareholders have to be supportive of this,” Musk said.

Musk said he would stay out of the discussions because of a conflict of interest. He also stressed that the committees had not reached an agreement and might not do so.

He pointed to potential gains from closer cooperation between the two companies in areas such as artificial intelligence, chip design, robotics, launching mass into orbit and connectivity.

Tesla is valued at about $1.5 trillion, while SpaceX is valued at $2 trillion.

Musk has previously combined businesses under his control. In February 2026, SpaceX acquired his artificial intelligence company xAI in a deal that brought the Grok chatbot and social media platform X under the same corporate umbrella. In March last year, xAI had acquired X in an all-stock transaction.

SpaceX, which builds rockets and operates the Starlink satellite internet service, has also expanded into providing computing capacity to technology companies, including Anthropic and Google.

According to SpaceX’s latest quarterly results, its Super Intelligence business generated $7.56 billion in revenue in the third quarter, while its Connectivity business, which includes Starlink, reported $5.25 billion.

Following Musk’s comments, SpaceX shares rose over 8 per cent in after-hours trading, while Tesla shares gained around 1.7 per cent.