Elon Musk said Tuesday that he would like to merge SpaceX and Tesla, his two largest companies, and that shareholders would have to sign off.
Musk made the remark during the question-and-answer portion of SpaceX's third-quarter earnings call. Asked about a potential merger, he said: "Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes." He then stepped back from the decision itself. "But at the end of the day the shareholders have to be supportive of this," he said, adding that ultimately it is not his call.
The comment follows a year of consolidation. In February, SpaceX acquired xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company. In June, SpaceX went public in the largest initial public offering on record. A merger with Tesla would be the second combination of Musk companies in under a year.
The shareholder caveat is the part worth weighing. Tesla has long been publicly traded, and SpaceX has had public investors only since June. Any deal would therefore need approval from two outside investor bases, each with its own view of what its shares are worth. The xAI deal was a different case, since xAI was a private company and SpaceX was the buyer.
As described, this was a stated preference in answer to a question, not a proposal. It does show which direction Musk wants his companies to move, and it puts the question in front of the investors who would have to answer it. How Tesla's shareholders react to being asked to fold into a rocket-and-AI company is the open question.