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70% Positive

Analyzed from 1864 words in the discussion.

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#tesla#spacex#elon#why#control#makes#company#musk#more#still

Discussion (89 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

V__about 3 hours ago
> There's no question that there are synergies between Tesla and SpaceX in our futures," she said. "There's a convergence of what we're all trying to accomplish in the future."

Accomplish a ludicrous valuation above all else?

seydorabout 3 hours ago
Elon's payout depends on it
appplicationabout 2 hours ago
If anyone thinks there’s any reason other than this, it’s a clear sign they’re incapable of critical thought.
lenerdenatorabout 3 hours ago
Of course. That's the one and only goal.

Why? Well, as Cory Doctorow said at the talk I attended earlier this week, they do this for the same reason a dog licks his balls: because they can and no one will stop them.

outside1234about 3 hours ago
What do you want? Him to act in the shareholder's interest or something?
dgellowabout 3 hours ago
He's a shareholder, he acts in his own interest, therefore he's acting on a shareholder's interest!
IshKebababout 3 hours ago
Yeah I'm definitely questioning what synergies there are between Tesla and SpaceX. What do electric cars and rockets have in common? Are they going to me a rocket powered car? Put a Tesla on the moon?

The only thing I can think that makes any sense at all is Teslas coming with Starlink terminals built in. That seems like a stretch though.

roryirvineabout 3 hours ago
Tesla claims to be pivoting away from cars in favour of producing their Optimus robots. And SpaceX's IPO valuation appears to be predicated on them being an AI datacentre company.

So I guess the "Musk plays 4d chess" view would be that there are obvious synergies between humanoid robots and AI.

Ugh. Honestly, that makes it seem worse than the purely cynical financial engineering takes.

UncleMeatabout 2 hours ago
But why are robots and LLMs connected? The only reason why a robot feels more connected to AI than a self driving car is science fiction.
Ekarosabout 2 hours ago
I am questioning synergies of Tesla and Tesla and SpaceX and SpaceX. So Tesla and Tesla and SpaceX and SpaceX... Is just all that cubed...
tencentshillabout 2 hours ago
Stop asking those questions and just give him your money already.
s1artibartfastabout 2 hours ago
Per the article, there are already co-invested in building Elons chip megafab.

If you are doing vertical integration, there are lots of common technologies and skills.

parineumabout 3 hours ago
Batteries and solar panels in space/mars/moon.
bhoustonabout 3 hours ago
It was called here on Hacker News by SilverElfin back in early February (4 months back), and I remember because I agreed:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46863028

cactusplant7374about 3 hours ago
People have been talking about this for much longer than four months.
MattRixabout 3 hours ago
yup, and elon hinted at it in podcast interviews during the past year as well
gegtikabout 3 hours ago
people, please, can we find out who said it first
jacobgormabout 3 hours ago
rawgabbitabout 3 hours ago
That was my first thought. A underhanded way for Elon to further enrich himself.
jimmydoeabout 3 hours ago
Elon is such an honorable person that he will end up not do it, and we will worship him for that.
matthewfcarlsonabout 3 hours ago
I cannot tell if this is sarcasm or genuine. I am horrified that it could be either almost as much as I am by the fact that I can't tell.
goldcdabout 2 hours ago
I was wondering why he got so many voting shares in SpaceX. Then worked out it was just enough to get overall control of a combined company (assuming SpaceX remains at or above IPO valuation and Tesla stays under his beloved 420).

Suspect it also means all pumping from now on out will be Space X, whilst Tesla will be "less bullish" than normal.

ant6n4 minutes ago
Interesting. So there's a merger of SpaceX and Tesla, and he gets back more Tesla.
glimsheabout 1 hour ago
I made sure to steer clear of Tesla and now SpaceX across my investments. It's not that Musk is an incompetent leader or the companies are bad, but his reality distortion field creates valuations and schemes designed to extract as much money as possible from investors rather than to enrich them.
Zigurdabout 3 hours ago
If you're gonna float a $2 trillion bubble, why not make it 3.
LightBug1about 3 hours ago
Don't be ridiculous.

4.

outside1234about 3 hours ago
Thinking too small. With grandma's pension we can get to at least 5.
hmokiguessabout 3 hours ago
I guess these days the saying is "if you aim for Jupiter you land on Mars"
NickC25about 3 hours ago
or 4, or 5, or whatever makes Elon more money than he knows what to do with.
t1234sabout 3 hours ago
meh.. 10T or your not even trying.
LightBug1about 3 hours ago
10T isn't cool... You know what's cool?
whazorabout 3 hours ago
It would be like Samsung: Samsung does semiconductors, smartphones, displays, TVs, appliances, batteries, shipbuilding, construction, insurance, hotels, and even theme parks.
Ekarosabout 2 hours ago
Actually no. Asians have common decency to run separate businesses as separate companies. Samsung Electronics does a lot. But it really doesn't have direct hand in other business. Even if there is some ownership in them.
stuxnet79about 3 hours ago
It is the Asian model of capitalism. David Oks did a great article about this focusing on Japanese firms in particular [1]

[1] https://davidoks.blog/p/why-japanese-companies-do-so-many

_DeadFred_about 3 hours ago
It would be like the old General Electric.
teerayabout 3 hours ago
Yet another conglomerate
rkagererabout 3 hours ago
Interesting bit at the end for anyone unaware:

Under the terms set out in SpaceX's filing, Musk commands a supermajority of voting shares — more than 80% — and retains the right to sign off even on any board action that could result in his ouster.

xiphias2about 2 hours ago
It makes sense, he stopped contributing to Tesla significantly long time ago (he redirected the NVIDIA GPUs that were supposed to go for Tesla self driving to X.ai).

He wants full control back.

redox99about 3 hours ago
On the one hand, there's definitely some overlap between Tesla and SpaceX. Optimus, FSD, xAI, Orbital AI, Tesla Solar, Terafab, and so on. It genuinely does make sense.

On the other hand, large part of it is probably securing control of the company with super voting stocks.

kklisuraabout 3 hours ago
It only makes sense if Tesla does not have technology to jump the finish line of Optimus and Robotaxis. If they do have technology and can release those products, then SpaceX is only needed to improve margins on them as they can vertically integrate. I don't think they have technology...
Cider9986about 2 hours ago
They're gonna have to update this website. Already have to drag in order to finish.

(https://wealth.ronnycoste.com/)

xiphias2about 2 hours ago
It's very strange web site, something is off with the math, $9B cost of chemotherapy went away too fast.
Cider9986about 2 hours ago
It makes me question reality when Tesla is just as overvalued and yet has maintained its value for years.
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stephc_int13about 3 hours ago
The merge could be named Musk Industries, quite fitting considering his hubris and association with comic books.
Gysabout 2 hours ago
MuskX
qaqabout 3 hours ago
Well given dual class shares in SpaceX Elon will get full control of Tesla for free aside from all other benefits ...
sailfastabout 3 hours ago
Not sure why this didn't occur to me earlier. It's always been the play, and it's probably ALSO why many Tesla investors went along with this IPO. It gets him control of Tesla again without paying him all those shares and without the lawsuits (though if I'm honest any decent anti-trust regulator would prevent it so this will likely need to happen in the next two years (while little to no competent governance is allowed)
eagerpaceabout 3 hours ago
Know how they grew Xai and built the data centers so fast? They rerouted Tesla chip orders. That business was supposed to be built inside of Tesla, but it was extracted. Tesla still needs it.
baggachipzabout 3 hours ago
This has been the plan all along. Tesla is the only one of any of these companies who makes money (but dwindling) and by getting Elon majority shares of SpaceX, he can then gain majority control of Tesla.
koolbaabout 3 hours ago
This is all because Musk doesn’t want to have two different corporate email addresses. The corporate synergies are secondary to the convenience of checking just one mailbox.
karp773about 3 hours ago
It will probably be an attempt to sneak SpaceX into S&P500 through the Tesla backdoor. Someone needs those 401k monies.
Iolaumabout 3 hours ago
Does this mean Telsa would get out of the S&P index, or that SpaceX would come in? Hope for the former.
the_sleaze_about 3 hours ago
They'll both be in the S&P, and combined would represent roughly 5%
outside1234about 3 hours ago
This is a good question and I think it depends on who acquires who.

If we wants control and SpaceX acquires Tesla, then I think it drops out until there is profitability.

the_sleaze_about 3 hours ago
They relaxed the rules for SpaceX already, it's in almost immediately the IPO
youtubeuserabout 3 hours ago
S&P rejected SpaceX.
MattRixabout 3 hours ago
no, that’s Nasdaq not S&P
kklisuraabout 3 hours ago
If they would to merge, Elon would have total control over this new entity (> 50%). Why would Tesla shareholders vote to relinquish their rights? I've been listening to some of the _Tesla cultist_ - as I call them - and they are open and excited about merging with SpaceX for one reason only: they want to keep Elon happy. Jfc.
matthewdgreenabout 3 hours ago
Have you met Tesla shareholders?
hmokiguessabout 3 hours ago
right, accelerated vesting
waltboszabout 3 hours ago
What's the end goal of merging everything into X ?
paul7986about 3 hours ago
So he controls Y and Z!
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tristanjabout 3 hours ago
The Tesla/SpaceX merger rumors feel like classic cope created by Tesla bagholders who feel they are missing out on the SpaceX IPO.

Let’s be real: Elon has mentally checked out of Tesla. His heart and focus is at SpaceX, and long time Tesla holders have watched this slow-motion abandonment happen over the past few years. Just look at the lack of projects/innovation coming out of Tesla, and compare that to what's happening at SpaceX. Innovation has slowed to a crawl at Tesla. Tesla shareholders desperately want in on Elon's next project, and the only way they can protect their investment is if SpaceX buys them out.

tsimionescuabout 3 hours ago
It's incredible to think that there are still people who think Elon Musk is really involved in any positive way in the technology his companies' employees produce.
s1artibartfastabout 2 hours ago
This seems like a narrative construction detached from reality . Tesla owners can just sell and buy spacex. Its not like tesla is down.
tsimionescuabout 3 hours ago
A nice tidbit from the article, for people who think that Tesla Cybertrucks are actually selling decently well:

> SpaceX spent $131 million on Cybertrucks in 2025, according to SpaceX's IPO filing.

Per their numbers (20k cars sold in 2025) and the list price (70-100k), this means that almost 10% of all Cybertrucks sold by Tesla in 2025 were bought by another Elon Musk company.

qwerpyabout 2 hours ago
Where I live (Orange County, California) they are selling decently well. There’s one parked in every street. I guess when you have a high Asian immigrant population, they ignore the politics and just buy what makes sense for them.
tsimionescuabout 2 hours ago
They've sold 20k last year, 35k the year before that. Not only are they selling poorly, the market is quickly shrinking.
NickC25about 3 hours ago
Something here stinks....and I'm not sure what it is. But my god, the corruption here is staggering.
dgellowabout 3 hours ago
My guess is that it's all a scheme for Elon to get more control over Tesla. In a healthy system all those acquisitions and self-dealing would be blocked right away
albatross79about 3 hours ago
Degenerate scammers
whatever1about 3 hours ago
See? If you throw infinite amounts of money at someone, they can always be successful
yanis_tabout 3 hours ago
well that was fast
josefritzishereabout 3 hours ago
cars and spaceships... totally the same thing.
baggachipzabout 3 hours ago
They're all like "Tesla is an ai company now!!1!"

https://www.autoblog.com/news/tesla-is-an-ai-company-now

outside1234about 3 hours ago
Just keep changing the goalposts so all of rubes investing in these junk stocks can keep drinking the koolaid.

Also, so Elon can raid the company treasury.

btillyabout 3 hours ago
So now that Tesla is clearly crashing, fold it into the more successful SpaceX and get to roll the dice again?

Classic Elon. This is the same thing that he did to rescue a failing Solar City by making it part of Tesla.

It takes a lot to get where Elon is. But it also takes a willingness to double down over and over again on big bets. And he himself will be the first to admit that the most likely outcome of his strategy was bankruptcy.

naishoyaabout 1 hour ago
And it still is the most likely outcome; but now it wont be Elon losing 99% of his worth, it will be every pension and retirement, every index fund, every investment portfolio that 'must buy' into this simply because of the scale, regardless of the individual investors' best interests.

After losing 99%, Elon would still be worth 10B, but now the risk is with the investors? What is 1% remaining out of the portion of their individual net worth committed to one (or more) of these types of index funds out of a need for "safety?"

Oops, that's $100 remaining for every 10K invested; that's roughly the cost of a single steak dinner at a mid-grade chain restaurant.

I'm sorry, I just cant imagine that this really ends well. There simply isn't anything approaching reality in the profit:risks at SpaceX.

snovv_crashabout 3 hours ago
It's like the Martingale strategy for roulette, but if you figure out you have slightly better than 50% returns you have positive expected outcomes.
Gareth321about 3 hours ago
I don't know who told you Tesla is crashing, but [they lied to you.](https://www.tradingview.com/chart/cYRyThbO/)
MattRixabout 3 hours ago
That’s the stock, which has very little relation to how the company itself is doing, especially in Tesla’s case!
fennecfoxyabout 3 hours ago
Look at how many fuck ups there are with basically no repercussions; the dude is still rich.

Is any more proof needed that if you ride the coat tails of real engineers and have a propensity for screwing other people over that that is what success really is for a lot of people in business?

Just look to the number of huge companies with founding members or integral early members being forced out just as things are getting good ($$$).

btillyabout 2 hours ago
This is a take on Elon that I cannot agree with.

I get it. I know how much people want to hate him. And how much fuel he has given for that.

But he's very talented, and really puts in the work. According to people I personally know who work with him closely, he's the real deal.

Doesn't stop him from being an asshole. But you get the bad with the good.

Frickenabout 2 hours ago
No, Elon didn't put in a trillion dollars worth of work.
criddellabout 3 hours ago
> Look at how many fuck ups there are with basically no repercussions; the dude is still rich.

I read something that put it into perspective for me. Musk's current net worth is ~ $1 trillion. He could mess up and destroy 99% of his wealth and he would still be worth $10 billion.

If he did something stupid again and lost 99% of the remaining 1%, he would still be worth $100 million.

It would take him screwing up a third time and losing 99% once again to be down to a middle-class net worth of $1 million.