SpaceX and Tesla have each formed special committees of independent directors to review a possible merger, Elon Musk said on SpaceX's third-quarter earnings call on October 20, 2026. The committees were created at shareholders' request. Musk, CEO and the largest individual shareholder of both companies, said he is a conflicted party and is not in those discussions. No deal terms have been agreed, and he cautioned that a combination is not a certainty.

Key Facts

Details
Status Special committees reviewing a possible merger; no agreed terms; no completed deal
Who asked Shareholders, per Musk on the SpaceX Q3 call
Committees Independent directors at SpaceX and at Tesla (Musk did not name members on the call)
Musk's role Recused from committee talks as a conflicted party; personally says a merger has merit
Tesla vote hurdle Musk said Tesla would need approval from 50% of all shares outstanding, not only shares that vote
SpaceX Q3 (company release) Revenue about $14.6B (+161% YoY); net income about $4.4B (vs net loss about $1.05B a year earlier)
SI segment (company release) Super Intelligence revenue about $7.56B in Q3 (from about $813M a year earlier)

Background

Musk has floated combining SpaceX and Tesla before, citing overlap in AI software, chips, robotics, the Terafab chip effort, and orbital compute ideas such as Starmind / Starlink-related projects. On the October 20 call, TechCrunch and NBC News quote him saying there is "a lot of merit" to combining the companies amid what he called a "superintelligence singularity," while also saying it would overstate the case to treat a merger as certain. Special committees had not agreed on transaction terms and might never do so.

SpaceX's October 20 earnings release (SEC-filed) reported Q3 revenue of $14.575 billion, rounded to $14.6 billion in the headline, up 161% from $5.6 billion a year earlier, with net income of $4.4 billion versus a $1.05 billion net loss in the year-ago quarter. The Super Intelligence (SI) segment—formerly labeled AI—posted $7.560 billion in revenue. Connectivity (including Starlink) contributed $5.248 billion. How much of SI is cloud rental versus Grok / other software is not fully broken out in the release; some outlets cite analyst views on that mix, which we leave to those reports.

TechCrunch notes Musk holds more than 50% voting power at SpaceX after its IPO, which would ease SpaceX-side support relative to Tesla, where his stake is far smaller and the all-shares 50% bar is higher.

Reactions and Impact

CNBC reported SpaceX shares rose about 10% the session after the earnings print and merger comments. Reuters coverage, carried by outlets such as Street Insider, likewise described the special-committee confirmation and Musk's "good idea" framing. The Verge published analysis of strategic and pay-package angles; that piece is commentary rather than a primary confirmation of new board actions.

No definitive agreement, exchange ratio, or regulatory filing announcing a signed merger was public at the time of writing.

What We Don't Know Yet

  • Whether the committees will propose a transaction, on what valuation or structure, or when.
  • Committee membership beyond "independent directors," and which advisers each side has retained (Reuters has cited people familiar with talks; those details are not in SpaceX's earnings release).
  • How Tesla's board and public shareholders would vote if a proposal reaches them.
  • Timing relative to regulators and to Musk's Tesla compensation milestones if a change of control were ever structured.

Sources