SpaceX Surges as Musk Floats $3.5 Trillion Tesla Merger
SpaceX shares jumped more than 10% after blowout Q3 earnings and Elon Musk's revelation that both companies have formed special committees to study a potential merger worth roughly $3.5 trillion.
SpaceX reported third-quarter revenue of $14.6 billion, a 161% increase year-on-year driven by its Super Intelligence and Starlink satellite-internet segments, comfortably beating analyst expectations. Shares surged more than 10% on the news. On the earnings call, CEO Elon Musk disclosed that independent board committees at both SpaceX and Tesla have been formed to formally explore a merger of the two companies. Musk argued the tie-up has 'a lot of merit', citing collaboration opportunities in AI software, chip design, robotics, and connectivity, as well as a jointly developed Terafab chip plant. A combined entity would carry a market value of approximately $3.5 trillion — SpaceX at around $2 trillion and Tesla at nearly $1.5 trillion — making it potentially the largest corporate merger in history. Tesla's own Q3 results, released the same evening, showed revenue flat at $28 billion and net profit down 43% to $787 million, though adjusted earnings per share of $0.48 beat the consensus estimate of $0.43. Tesla's Robotaxi service had passed 2 million miles driven. Tesla shares slipped slightly after hours despite the earnings beat, as investors weighed the merger uncertainty.
