SpaceX-Tesla merger chatter reignites as Musk pushes rocket company towards Nasdaq

As Elon Musk prepares to lead a second trillion-dollar company into the public market, a move that will likely put him in charge of two of the 10 most valuable U.S. enterprises, chatter is building that Musk’s ultimate goal is to combine the entities into one. SpaceX is expected to start trading on the Nasdaq in just over two weeks after obtaining a private market valuation of $1.25 trillion earlier this year, when it merged with xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company. Tesla’s market cap currently sits at around $1.6 trillion. The two companies already have a laundry list of shared resources, and Musk has discussed with colleagues the possibility of folding the companies together, according to people familiar with the talks who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic. Tesla and SpaceX have spent years pooling resources and even sharing personnel. Musk sits on both boards, as does venture capitalist Ira Ehrenpreis, founder of DBL Partners. Musk’s brother Kimbal is currently on Tesla’s board and used to be a SpaceX director. SpaceX board members Antonio Gracias and Steve Jurvetson previously served on Tesla’s board. And Charles Kuehmann is vice president of materials engineering for Tesla and SpaceX, joining from Apple a decade ago, and is known for playing a key role in troubleshooting key design issues. In January, Tesla revealed it had invested $2 billion in xAI. Those shares became holdings in SpaceX following that company’s merger with xAI the following month. Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/26/spacex-tesla-merger-chatter-reignites-as-musk-rocket-company-nears-ipo.html