SpaceX may announce a merger with Tesla no later than early December — Barclays

A merger between Elon Musk’s two companies—Tesla and SpaceX—could be announced before the electric-car maker’s annual shareholders’ meeting, which is scheduled to take place no later than December 6, according to Barclays analysts, as reported by Bloomberg.

“The possibility of a merger between Tesla and SpaceX is increasingly being viewed as the most likely scenario. An announcement could come as early as late October or even early November—in which case, it would be more difficult to get the deal approved at the annual meeting,” Barclays warned, noting that the shareholder vote remains the main obstacle to the deal. Approval will be required from shareholders of both companies.

“Approximately 11% of the total votes cast at Tesla’s 2025 annual shareholders’ meeting were ballots not counted by brokers, which are effectively counted as ‘against’ votes.” “We believe Tesla will attempt to increase shareholder participation in the vote on a potential merger with SpaceX,” wrote analysts led by Dan Levy.

Tesla shares fell 1.7% in premarket trading on October 15, while SpaceX shares dropped 2.6% amid the ongoing sell-off in the AI sector. Year-to-date, Tesla shares are down 18.4%, while SpaceX’s market capitalization has fallen by nearly 8% since its IPO in June.

Investors and analysts have long anticipated the merger of Elon Musk's two projects, especially after SpaceX completed a record-breaking initial public offering, Bloomberg notes.

According to Barclays, although the merger may yield certain financial synergies, its true value will lie in the vertical integration of both companies' AI technologies.

Supporters of the deal between Tesla and SpaceX noted that it would simplify the structure of Musk’s business empire. Dan Ives, one of Wall Street’s leading tech optimists, called the prospect of the merger the billionaire’s “Holy Grail” on his path to “controlling an ever-larger portion of the artificial intelligence ecosystem.” As a result of the merger, the market will see the emergence of an unprecedented leader in science, engineering, and technology—"the world’s best project in the field of AI implementation," Ives wrote.

Skeptics, however, believe that the deal could turn out to be a “rescue operation” for Tesla, which has faced fierce competition in the electric vehicle market. Ross Gerber, CEO of the investment management firm Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, shared this view. “It looks as though SpaceX will simply come to Tesla’s rescue and take it over, even though they’ll officially call it a merger,” he wrote this spring on social media platform X.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor