Tech billionaire Elon Musk said Tuesday that the boards of SpaceX and Tesla have separately formed special committees to discuss the idea of a merger, taking a small step toward a possible consolidation of his two largest companies.
Musk, who is CEO of both companies, said the special committees had not reached an agreement and there was no guarantee they would. He said a merger would require the support of both groups of shareholders.
“I think some people assume that a merger between SpaceX and Tesla is a certainty, and I think that would be a stretch,” he said.
Musk talked about a potential tie-up during a call with Wall Street analysts about SpaceX’s quarterly results, which beat estimates; the company’s revenue more than doubled, in part due to leasing computing capacity to other artificial intelligence companies.
There has been intense speculation in the stock market about the possibility of a combination, and the two companies already overlap in some areas, including semiconductor manufacturing. In January, Tesla announced that it would invest around $2 billion to acquire shares in an AI startup that is a subsidiary of SpaceX.
Musk said that because he is a disputing party under securities regulations, he is not a member of any special committees or involved in negotiations. It said the committees were made up of independent directors from both boards, but did not specify the composition.
“It’s a strange Kabuki dance, where groups of people are talking and I can’t participate in the conversation,” he said during results calls. He also said that even answering a question from an analyst about the idea was like “dancing through a minefield.”
Musk, however, approved of the idea.
“I think there is a lot of merit in combining the companies, because we are more in the superintelligence singularity, and there is a lot to be gained from cooperation,” he said. He mentioned several areas of current or potential cooperation, including AI software development, chip design and robotics.
Musk has already consolidated some of his other holdings. Last year, he merged his social media company, X, with his AI startup, called xAI at the time. Then, in February, SpaceX acquired xAI, which Musk has since renamed SpaceXSI.
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