> There's no question that there are synergies between Tesla and SpaceX in our futures," she said. "There's a convergence of what we're all trying to accomplish in the future."
Why? Well, as Cory Doctorow said at the talk I attended earlier this week, they do this for the same reason a dog licks his balls: because they can and no one will stop them.
Yeah I'm definitely questioning what synergies there are between Tesla and SpaceX. What do electric cars and rockets have in common? Are they going to me a rocket powered car? Put a Tesla on the moon?
The only thing I can think that makes any sense at all is Teslas coming with Starlink terminals built in. That seems like a stretch though.
Tesla claims to be pivoting away from cars in favour of producing their Optimus robots. And SpaceX's IPO valuation appears to be predicated on them being an AI datacentre company.
So I guess the "Musk plays 4d chess" view would be that there are obvious synergies between humanoid robots and AI.
Ugh. Honestly, that makes it seem worse than the purely cynical financial engineering takes.
Yeah, it's all scifi posturing. Same with the "Optimus will begin colonising Mars in 2026" line that they were still pushing just a few months ago.
There's perhaps a chance that some part of it might happen someday, but right now the main thing is to distract attention from Tesla's lack of model development and SpaceX's much-vaunted AI business being based on reselling datacentre space at a loss.
I was wondering why he got so many voting shares in SpaceX. Then worked out it was just enough to get overall control of a combined company (assuming SpaceX remains at or above IPO valuation and Tesla stays under his beloved 420).
Suspect it also means all pumping from now on out will be Space X, whilst Tesla will be "less bullish" than normal.
It would be like Samsung: Samsung does semiconductors, smartphones, displays, TVs, appliances, batteries, shipbuilding, construction, insurance, hotels, and even theme parks.
Actually no. Asians have common decency to run separate businesses as separate companies. Samsung Electronics does a lot. But it really doesn't have direct hand in other business. Even if there is some ownership in them.
Under the terms set out in SpaceX's filing, Musk commands a supermajority of voting shares — more than 80% — and retains the right to sign off even on any board action that could result in his ouster.
It makes sense, he stopped contributing to Tesla significantly long time ago (he redirected the NVIDIA GPUs that were supposed to go for Tesla self driving to X.ai).
On the one hand, there's definitely some overlap between Tesla and SpaceX. Optimus, FSD, xAI, Orbital AI, Tesla Solar, Terafab, and so on. It genuinely does make sense.
On the other hand, large part of it is probably securing control of the company with super voting stocks.
It only makes sense if Tesla does not have technology to jump the finish line of Optimus and Robotaxis. If they do have technology and can release those products, then SpaceX is only needed to improve margins on them as they can vertically integrate. I don't think they have technology...
Not sure why this didn't occur to me earlier. It's always been the play, and it's probably ALSO why many Tesla investors went along with this IPO. It gets him control of Tesla again without paying him all those shares and without the lawsuits (though if I'm honest any decent anti-trust regulator would prevent it so this will likely need to happen in the next two years (while little to no competent governance is allowed)
Know how they grew Xai and built the data centers so fast? They rerouted Tesla chip orders. That business was supposed to be built inside of Tesla, but it was extracted. Tesla still needs it.
This has been the plan all along. Tesla is the only one of any of these companies who makes money (but dwindling) and by getting Elon majority shares of SpaceX, he can then gain majority control of Tesla.
This is all because Musk doesn’t want to have two different corporate email addresses. The corporate synergies are secondary to the convenience of checking just one mailbox.
If they would to merge, Elon would have total control over this new entity (> 50%). Why would Tesla shareholders vote to relinquish their rights? I've been listening to some of the _Tesla cultist_ - as I call them - and they are open and excited about merging with SpaceX for one reason only: they want to keep Elon happy. Jfc.
A nice tidbit from the article, for people who think that Tesla Cybertrucks are actually selling decently well:
> SpaceX spent $131 million on Cybertrucks in 2025, according to SpaceX's IPO filing.
Per their numbers (20k cars sold in 2025) and the list price (70-100k), this means that almost 10% of all Cybertrucks sold by Tesla in 2025 were bought by another Elon Musk company.
Where I live (Orange County, California) they are selling decently well. There’s one parked in every street. I guess when you have a high Asian immigrant population, they ignore the politics and just buy what makes sense for them.
My guess is that it's all a scheme for Elon to get more control over Tesla. In a healthy system all those acquisitions and self-dealing would be blocked right away
The Tesla/SpaceX merger rumors feel like classic cope created by Tesla bagholders who feel they are missing out on the SpaceX IPO.
Let’s be real: Elon has mentally checked out of Tesla. His heart and focus is at SpaceX, and long time Tesla holders have watched this slow-motion abandonment happen over the past few years. Just look at the lack of projects/innovation coming out of Tesla, and compare that to what's happening at SpaceX. Innovation has slowed to a crawl at Tesla. Tesla shareholders desperately want in on Elon's next project, and the only way they can protect their investment is if SpaceX buys them out.
It's incredible to think that there are still people who think Elon Musk is really involved in any positive way in the technology his companies' employees produce.
So now that Tesla is clearly crashing, fold it into the more successful SpaceX and get to roll the dice again?
Classic Elon. This is the same thing that he did to rescue a failing Solar City by making it part of Tesla.
It takes a lot to get where Elon is. But it also takes a willingness to double down over and over again on big bets. And he himself will be the first to admit that the most likely outcome of his strategy was bankruptcy.
Look at how many fuck ups there are with basically no repercussions; the dude is still rich.
Is any more proof needed that if you ride the coat tails of real engineers and have a propensity for screwing other people over that that is what success really is for a lot of people in business?
Just look to the number of huge companies with founding members or integral early members being forced out just as things are getting good ($$$).
> Look at how many fuck ups there are with basically no repercussions; the dude is still rich.
I read something that put it into perspective for me. Musk's current net worth is ~ $1 trillion. He could mess up and destroy 99% of his wealth and he would still be worth $10 billion.
If he did something stupid again and lost 99% of the remaining 1%, he would still be worth $100 million.
It would take him screwing up a third time and losing 99% once again to be down to a middle-class net worth of $1 million.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46863028
Accomplish a ludicrous valuation above all else?
Why? Well, as Cory Doctorow said at the talk I attended earlier this week, they do this for the same reason a dog licks his balls: because they can and no one will stop them.
The only thing I can think that makes any sense at all is Teslas coming with Starlink terminals built in. That seems like a stretch though.
So I guess the "Musk plays 4d chess" view would be that there are obvious synergies between humanoid robots and AI.
Ugh. Honestly, that makes it seem worse than the purely cynical financial engineering takes.
There's perhaps a chance that some part of it might happen someday, but right now the main thing is to distract attention from Tesla's lack of model development and SpaceX's much-vaunted AI business being based on reselling datacentre space at a loss.
If you are doing vertical integration, there are lots of common technologies and skills.
Suspect it also means all pumping from now on out will be Space X, whilst Tesla will be "less bullish" than normal.
4.
[1] https://davidoks.blog/p/why-japanese-companies-do-so-many
(https://wealth.ronnycoste.com/)
Under the terms set out in SpaceX's filing, Musk commands a supermajority of voting shares — more than 80% — and retains the right to sign off even on any board action that could result in his ouster.
He wants full control back.
On the other hand, large part of it is probably securing control of the company with super voting stocks.
If we wants control and SpaceX acquires Tesla, then I think it drops out until there is profitability.
Nice!
> SpaceX spent $131 million on Cybertrucks in 2025, according to SpaceX's IPO filing.
Per their numbers (20k cars sold in 2025) and the list price (70-100k), this means that almost 10% of all Cybertrucks sold by Tesla in 2025 were bought by another Elon Musk company.
Let’s be real: Elon has mentally checked out of Tesla. His heart and focus is at SpaceX, and long time Tesla holders have watched this slow-motion abandonment happen over the past few years. Just look at the lack of projects/innovation coming out of Tesla, and compare that to what's happening at SpaceX. Innovation has slowed to a crawl at Tesla. Tesla shareholders desperately want in on Elon's next project, and the only way they can protect their investment is if SpaceX buys them out.
https://www.autoblog.com/news/tesla-is-an-ai-company-now
Also, so Elon can raid the company treasury.
Classic Elon. This is the same thing that he did to rescue a failing Solar City by making it part of Tesla.
It takes a lot to get where Elon is. But it also takes a willingness to double down over and over again on big bets. And he himself will be the first to admit that the most likely outcome of his strategy was bankruptcy.
Is any more proof needed that if you ride the coat tails of real engineers and have a propensity for screwing other people over that that is what success really is for a lot of people in business?
Just look to the number of huge companies with founding members or integral early members being forced out just as things are getting good ($$$).
I get it. I know how much people want to hate him. And how much fuel he has given for that.
But he's very talented, and really puts in the work. According to people I personally know who work with him closely, he's the real deal.
Doesn't stop him from being an asshole. But you get the bad with the good.
You can take $5 of labor, $5 of capital, and make something people will pay $20 for
I read something that put it into perspective for me. Musk's current net worth is ~ $1 trillion. He could mess up and destroy 99% of his wealth and he would still be worth $10 billion.
If he did something stupid again and lost 99% of the remaining 1%, he would still be worth $100 million.
It would take him screwing up a third time and losing 99% once again to be down to a middle-class net worth of $1 million.