Why is Elon Musk plotting a mega-merger of SpaceX and Tesla?
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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.
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Asked on Tuesday whether a merger would be a good idea, Musk was clear: "Yes."
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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.
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With Tesla valued at roughly $1.5 trillion (£1.1 trillion) and SpaceX at $2 trillion, a combination of the two companies would mark the largest merger ever.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Watch: Did Tesla really just unveil a flying car?
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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".
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Musk, as boss of both companies, cannot participate in shareholder discussions.
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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.
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He believes shareholders will back the deal as the technology the companies develop complement each other, Sheehan said.
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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.
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"There's no real precedent for how a public company like Tesla gets priced in this," Sheehan said.
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SpaceX shares rose 8% in after hours trading while shares of Tesla climbed by 2%.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Tesla also started using a manufacturing plant in California to produce humanoid robots, known as Optimus.
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Tesla's vehicle line-up includes the Cybertruck and Model 3 Pairing Tesla's self-driving technology and robotics with SpaceX's AI and satellite network could result in more capable vehicles, Sheehan said.
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"The question is how much priority cars get inside a company increasingly driven by AI infrastructure," he added.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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A single company makes it easier for Musk to run his AI strategy the way he wants, Sheehan said.
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"The deal itself doesn't add to Musk's wealth, but it concentrates it further in one stock," he said.
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However, the merger could attract scrutiny over Musk, already a polarising figure in the US, Nicholson said.
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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.
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Shareholders have backed Musk's desires before.
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Last year, Tesla investors approved an unprecedented compensation package for Musk valued around $1tn.
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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.
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The deal also brings Musk closer to what Nicholson says is "his mission in life": colonising Mars.
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