Musk Proposes Tesla and SpaceX Merger as Financing Questions Grow

Elon Musk has moved the idea of combining Tesla and SpaceX into a formal exploratory process. On October 20, he said both companies had established special committees to study a merger, according to Notícias ao Minuto.

The potential combination would be worth about $3.5 trillion and would be the largest corporate deal in history, Japan Times reported. That is the scale of the proposal, not an announcement that a transaction has been agreed.

Control is central to the discussion. Musk owns nearly a fifth of Tesla and just under half of SpaceX, and analysts say a merger would give him control of the combined business, according to NDTV Top Stories.

By October 22, Musk's public support was creating concern among some people working on the proposal. The Next Web reported that they feared his comments could draw shareholder scrutiny and delay the process by several weeks.

The same day, Euronews reported that the deal was being aimed at completion before US President Donald Trump leaves office. That remains a reported ambition rather than an established deadline. Technology reported that the precise reason for that timing was unclear.

On October 23, NDTV Top Stories highlighted the difference between Musk's voting power at the two companies: about 82 percent at SpaceX and about 20 percent at Tesla. The outlet also reported that his moves at Tesla have drawn investor scrutiny and lawsuits. CNBC Technology described a long road of negotiations and regulatory reviews ahead.

A separate financing development followed on October 25. Musk said SpaceX had closed a $40 billion debt deal to fund chips for its artificial intelligence ambitions, but Bloomberg Technology reported that people familiar with the discussions said pricing talks were still ongoing.

On October 26, CNBC reported Musk's statement on X that SpaceX had closed $40 billion in debt financing to purchase GPUs. MarketWatch reported that SpaceX is rapidly expanding an AI business that rents access to advanced chips.

The merger remains under exploration, with negotiations and regulatory reviews still ahead, according to CNBC Technology. Musk's endorsement does not settle the terms or resolve the shareholder concerns reported by The Next Web.

The financing picture also needs care. Musk says the $40 billion borrowing is closed, as reported by CNBC. The earlier account from Bloomberg Technology said pricing discussions remained underway. The supplied coverage does not establish whether those discussions were subsequently resolved.

The next substantive developments would be proposed merger terms and progress through the negotiations and regulatory reviews described by CNBC Technology. How the transaction handles Musk's very different voting positions at the two companies will be a central question for shareholders.

Also unresolved is whether the reported goal of closing before Trump leaves office becomes a concrete timetable. Euronews reported that ambition, but the coverage does not provide an agreed closing date.