SpaceX and Tesla boards form special committees to review merger
Elon Musk likes the idea but says he is not on either committee, which is made up of independent directors.
The boards of SpaceX and Tesla have each established special committees to evaluate the potential merger between the two companies. These committees, comprised of independent directors, were set up due to requests from shareholders. Elon Musk, the CEO and largest individual shareholder of both companies, revealed during a SpaceX's earnings call that he is unable to participate in the discussions as he has a personal conflict of interest.
He did not disclose the identities of the members but confirmed they were independent directors. Tesla currently has seven independent board members, while SpaceX lists six. Regardless, Musk, his brother Kimbal Musk, Garcias, and Shotwell are not considered independent. Musk has expressed his support for the merger but cautioned that it is not a certainty, emphasizing that it ultimately relies on shareholder approval.
The SpaceX IPO has solidified Musk's control over the company, giving him more than 50% voting power, which simplifies the process of gaining support from SpaceX shareholders for a merger. In contrast, Tesla faces a more challenging hurdle, requiring a 50% vote from all shareholders. Musk believes there are significant benefits to combining the companies, particularly in areas such as AI software development, robotics, SpaceX's orbital AI data center project, and Tesla's joint chip manufacturing project, Starmind and Terafab, respectively.
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