Elon Musk Proposes Merging Elon Musk's Company With Elon Musk's Other Company, Then Recuses Himself Because He Can't Be Trusted Around Himself

On Tuesday, the richest man in the world announced that two of his companies may get married, and that he can't attend the wedding because he is related to both the bride and the groom.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and also CEO of Tesla, told analysts on SpaceX's earnings call that both boards have formed special committees to discuss a merger. "These special committees consist of independent directors, and because I'm a conflicted party, I can't actually be in the discussions of the special committees," he said. It is the first recorded case of a man recusing himself from a meeting between his left hand and his right hand.

The committees were formed "at the request of shareholders," which is how billionaires say "I was asked nicely." Venture capitalist Ira Ehrenpreis sits on both boards, so at least one independent director can negotiate with himself in the elevator. In this building, independence is measured in floors.

Musk was careful not to sway anyone. "Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes," he said, with the neutrality of a dog asked whether it would like the steak. "But at the end of the day, the shareholders have to be supportive of this." Asking Musk's shareholders for support is like asking the Moon whether it would like to keep orbiting.

He also described the experience of answering the question. "This is definitely the kind of question where I feel like I'm tap dancing through a minefield." Then he kept tapping. Minefields are rarely this well capitalised. He later called the process "an odd kabuki dance where two groups of people are talking and I can't be in the conversation," which also describes every family group chat after the holidays.

The case for the deal was made in the house style. "I do think there's a lot of merit to combining the companies as we are pretty much in the superintelligence singularity," Musk said. Most CEOs justify a merger with cost savings. Musk justifies his with the end of history. When the singularity is your synergy, the spreadsheet is a formality.

The numbers are modest. SpaceX is worth about $2 trillion, Tesla nearly $1.5 trillion, together roughly $3.5 trillion, which is less a company than a weather system. Musk controls about 82% of SpaceX's voting power and around 20% of Tesla's. Combine them and he owns about a third of everything, which in arithmetic is a fraction and in Texas is a mandate.

This is not his first family reunion. X merged with xAI. Then SpaceX bought xAI in February and renamed it SpaceXSI, which sounds less like a company than a password you were forced to change. Tesla has already put about $2 billion into SpaceX. The companies aren't merging so much as admitting they share a Netflix account.

SpaceX beat its numbers too: $14.58 billion in revenue against $12.72 billion expected, and a $4.4 billion profit, much of it from renting computing power to other AI firms. Rockets are now the side hustle of a landlord who rents out brains. Shares jumped more than 8% after hours, because the market hears "special committee" the way a golden retriever hears "walk."

Musk urged calm. "Some people out there assume that a SpaceX and Tesla merger is a certainty, and I think that would be overstating it." Tesla would need a majority of all outstanding shares, which he called "quite a high hurdle." Then again, this man lands rockets on boats. A hurdle is just a rocket that never learned to fly.

So the independent directors will meet, in rooms he can't enter, about companies he runs, to decide on a deal he has already called a good idea. He will wait in the hallway, tap dancing. The minefield has never looked more nervous.