NEW YORK — Investors wasted no time pricing in the possibility of the largest corporate combination in history, bidding up both of Elon Musk's flagship public companies after he confirmed that Tesla and SpaceX have formed committees to study a merger.
Tesla — NASDAQ: TSLA — and SpaceX — NASDAQ: SPCX — both rallied on the news, with the rocket maker leading the charge. The reaction underscored how eager the market is for Musk to formalize the ties between businesses that already share talent, technology and ambition. For traders, the appeal of $TSLA and $SPCX is no longer just about cars and rockets; it is about an AI-and-robotics conglomerate that could rival the most valuable companies on earth.
A Deal the Street Has Been Craving
Analyst Dan Ives estimated that a combined Tesla-SpaceX entity could be worth roughly $5 trillion, which would place it alongside $NVDA, recently valued near $5.2 trillion, and $AAPL, around $4.95 trillion. SpaceX alone carries a valuation of about $1.98 trillion, while Tesla's market capitalization sits near $1.5 trillion. Ives put the odds of a deal closing by the end of 2027 at 80% to 90% and suggested Tesla shareholders would likely command a premium — perhaps $500 to $550 per share — to approve it.
The enthusiasm builds on a run of strength across Musk's portfolio, including the stretch when analysts steadily lifted their price targets heading into Q3. A merger would fold xAI, the Grok maker now housed inside SpaceX, together with Tesla's autonomy and robotics programs under a single ticker.
The Tape
In morning trading, $SPCX climbed about 9.9% to $162.41, while $TSLA rose roughly 3.8% to $387.72; Tesla shares later touched $393.93 in after-hours action following its earnings beat. Over the past year $TSLA has traded in a wide band of roughly $210 to $415, and $SPCX has ranged from about $95 to $170 as the stock matured into a megacap. Broad market gauges $SPY and $QQQ were little changed, leaving Musk's names as the session's clear standouts. Readers can track live quotes for Tesla on Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, WSJ and Nasdaq, and for SpaceX on Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, WSJ and Nasdaq.
What Investors Are Weighing
The bull case is synergy: shared chip design through the Terafab foundry, a unified AI compute backbone, robotics and a satellite layer, all pulling in the same direction. Momentum has been building for weeks, echoing the move when $SPCX held near record highs on the Terafab bet. The risk is execution and governance — Musk cautioned that a Tesla vote would need 50% of all outstanding shares, a demanding threshold. Neuralink and The Boring Company remain privately held and are not part of the public-market calculus.
For now, the market has rendered an early verdict: the prospect of a combined Musk powerhouse is one investors want to own. Whether the committees deliver a deal or not, $TSLA and $SPCX have become the clearest way to bet on an AI future built in Musk's image.
This article does not constitute financial advice. Readers are advised to do their own research before investing in the stock market. Prices cited are point-in-time snapshots and may be stale — always confirm on a live financial source.
