Elon Musk said on the Tesla earnings call that SpaceX and Tesla are exploring a merger, putting a potential combination of his two most valuable companies in front of Tesla shareholders. A deal at that scale could force investors to decide whether to back a structure that Dan Ives says could be worth nearly $5 trillion.
SpaceX and Tesla committees
Both companies have formed special committees to discuss the idea at the request of shareholders, and Musk said those committees consist of independent directors. He described the logic in blunt terms, saying there is “a lot of merit to combining the companies” and that “There’s a lot to be gained from cooperating on developing super intelligence software, chip design, the Terafab obviously, robotics, mass to orbit with the Starmind constellation.”
SpaceX is currently valued at $1.98 trillion, while Tesla’s market capitalization stands at about $1.5 trillion. Put together, those figures help explain why the proposed combination could land close to nearly $5 trillion if shareholders and directors settle on terms that reflect both businesses’ scale rather than a simple sum of their current market values.
Dan Ives on Tesla value
Dan Ives said Tesla shareholders would likely demand a premium for their shares to agree to the merger, and he said the stock would likely need to trade in the $500 to $550 range for approval. That is the practical hurdle now: any vote would have to convince holders that the exchange terms leave them better off than staying with Tesla alone.
Musk said a majority of Tesla shareholders would need to vote in favor of the combination. He also said on Tuesday that a SpaceX and Tesla merger is far from assured, adding, “I think some people out there assume that a SpaceX and Tesla merger is a certainty, and I think that would be overstating it.”
January signals from Musk
In January, Musk said Tesla would phase out production of its Model S and Model X vehicles, and he said Tesla would eventually produce 1 million humanoid robots a year. He also said Optimus could hit the market in 2027, reinforcing how the merger talk now sits inside a broader shift toward AI, robotics, and systems that link the two companies more tightly.
For Tesla shareholders, the immediate issue is not the size of the vision but the vote. If the committees advance a proposal, the price, the premium, and the majority support Musk described will determine whether the merger moves from a discussion into a transaction.
