‘Tap dancing through a minefield’: Elon Musk’s $3.5 trillion Tesla-SpaceX merger talks expose his power—and scant accountability
Source: Fortune ·
The SpaceX IPO pushed Musk past $1 trillion on paper. Pension funds, a federal judge, and workplace-safety data show how little stands between him and the companies he runs.
From the source
Elon Musk said Tuesday that independent directors at Tesla and SpaceX have formed special committees to explore combining the two companies—a deal that, at current market values, would create a roughly $3.5 trillion giant. Musk said he can’t take part in the talks because he is a “conflicted party.” “This is definitely the kind of question where I feel like I’m tap dancing through a minefield,” Musk said on SpaceX’s third-quarter earnings call, adding that it would be “overstating it” to call a merger a certainty. The talks put a fresh spotlight on a question that has followed Musk since SpaceX’s June IPO made him the world’s first trillionaire, at least on paper: When one person holds this much wealth and controls this many companies, who holds him accountable? A trillion-dollar fortune, on paper SpaceX priced its shares at $135 and began trading under the ticker SPCX on June 12. The stock closed its first day at $161.11, up nearly 20%, and the company’s market value topped $2…