The companies formed special committees with independent directors from both sides.
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SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees to discuss the possibility of a merger, Elon Musk has revealed during the former's earnings call for the third quarter of 2026. Musk, who serves as CEO for both companies, said the committees were formed at the request of shareholders. The committees are made up of independent directors from SpaceX and Tesla. Musk himself can't be part of the discussions, as someone who's considered a "conflicted party," along with his brother Kimbal Musk.
Based on the corporate information listed on the companies' websites, Tesla has seven independent directors, while SpaceX has six. However, Ira Ehrenpreis, the chairperson for Tesla's Compensation and Nominating and Governance committees, also joined SpaceX's board in February. Both companies still list him as an independent director. As Electrek notes, Tesla has become a SpaceX shareholder, as well, after its $2 billion investment in xAI became SpaceX stock, following Musk's space company's acquisition of his AI company.
Musk controls about 82 percent of voting power at SpaceX, according to Fortune, so his vote will be the deciding factor for the space firm. It is much more complicated over at Tesla's side, where the company will need a 50 percent vote from all its shareholders — not just from those who vote — for the merger to go ahead. That's why he warned that a merger between the companies isn't a certainty at this point.
It's not quite clear how far along the talks they are, as the committees have yet to reach any kind of agreement. Musk said there's "a lot of merit" to combining the companies, as there's much "to be gained from cooperating on developing superintelligence software, chip design" and robotics, among other things. A merger would create a single company worth trillions of dollars with Musk at the helm. As noted by the BBC, the combined entity would give him more control over its operations than what he currently enjoys at Tesla. Musk has long been aiming to get more control over the automaker in order to be able to steer the ship the way he wants when it comes with AI and robotics.