Why Musk Can't Just Merge Tesla into SpaceX | The Trillion Dollar Frontier Pt 3

Business Onion · 2:58

SpaceX already pulled its AI company, xAI, in-house. The last piece Musk wants is Tesla — and not for the cars, but for the factories. Tesla's real superpower is mass-manufacturing, the one thing that turns "a million satellites and armies of robots" from a dream into something you can actually build. Together the two are worth more than $3 trillion. The catch: at SpaceX Musk controls the vote outright; at Tesla he holds only about a fifth — so a merger isn't his to order, it's the shareholders'. He's done a conflicted self-deal before (SolarCity, 2016 — sued as a bailout, but the courts ruled it fair and he won), and he's since moved Tesla's legal home to Texas, friendlier to management. Even so it's a hard sell: combined, the company would lose money from day one, and Washington would scrutinize a defense contractor tying up with a company deep in China. By every ordinary measure the price makes no sense — but there's never been a company like this. Most valuable company in history, or the most expensive bet ever made? We'll know in the 2030s. Thanks for watching the series — ▶ follow for more. Some scenes are AI-generated cinematic illustrations; figures reflect reporting as of June 2026 — analysis, not investment advice. #SpaceX #Tesla #ElonMusk #Starship #Investing #BusinessOnion