Commentary: Who would gain from a merger of Musk's SpaceX and Musk's Tesla? Take a wild guess
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Set us as preferred Here’s a rule of thumb when you’re pondering who would be a major beneficiary of any idea floated by Elon Musk about the future of his multiple companies: If you don’t place Musk at the top of the list, you might want to reconsider your math.That issue arose, and not for the first time, when Musk in effect blessed the idea of merging Tesla and SpaceX, his two biggest public companies.That happened on Oct.
20 during a conference call with Wall Street investment analysts to discuss SpaceX’s third-quarter financial results.Responding to the observation by a participant that there was “a lot of anticipation” of such a merger, Musk called the deal “a good idea” with “a lot of merit.” Tesla shares gained about 3.4% the next day.We are pretty much in the super-intelligence singularity.— Elon MuskAt the call, Musk revealed that both companies had empaneled “special committees” of purportedly independent directors to consider the transaction.He cautioned that it would require shareholder approvals at both companies, including more than 50% of all Tesla shareholders.
(Musk owned about 20% of the shares as of Sept.30, by far the largest single stake.)To justify the combination, Musk invoked the fabulous future of artificial intelligence: “We are pretty much in the super-intelligence singularity,” he said, “and there’s a lot to be gained from cooperating on developing super-intelligent software, chip design, the Terafab, obviously robotic, mass to orbit with the Starmind constellation.” Commentary on economics and more from a Pulitzer Prize winner.
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