The boards of SpaceX and Tesla have every shaped particular committees to assessment a potential merger. The particular committees, which include impartial administrators, have been created on the request of shareholders, in keeping with Elon Musk, CEO and the most important particular person shareholder of each corporations.
“As a result of I’m a conflicted celebration, I can’t really be within the discussions of the particular committees, so it’s this form of a … It’s an odd kabuki dance the place two teams of individuals are speaking, and I can’t be within the dialog,” Musk mentioned in response to a query throughout SpaceX’s third-quarter earnings name.
Musk didn’t title the members of those particular committees, solely noting that they have been impartial administrators. Tesla has seven impartial board members below Nasdaq’s itemizing requirements, together with board chair Robyn Denholm; Ira Ehrenpreis, who can be a committee chair; former Tesla CTO JB Straubel; Joe Gebbia; Jack Hartung; James Murdoch; and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, in keeping with the corporate’s October 19 proxy filing.
Neither Musk nor his brother Kimbal Musk is impartial. Denholm, Gebbia, Ehrenpreis, Hartung, Murdoch, and Wilson-Thompson sit on quite a lot of established committees overseeing audit, compensation, and company governance.
SpaceX lists six independent directors, together with Ehrenpreis, who can be the chair of the corporate’s compensation and nominating committee. Randy Glein, Donald Harrison, Steve Jurvetson, Luke Nosek, and Roelof Botha are additionally thought-about impartial administrators.
Antonio Gracias, Musk, and SpaceX president and chief working officer Gwynne Shotwell are additionally on the board, however not thought-about impartial. Gracias, who as soon as sat on Tesla’s board, based and leads Valor Fairness Companions, which has a 3.4% stake in SpaceX. Gracias’ agency additionally financed SpaceX’s AI hardware purchases via leaseback preparations.
Musk mentioned he helps the thought of the merger however cautioned that it’s not a assured consequence.
“I feel some individuals on the market assume {that a} SpaceX and Tesla Motor is a certainty, and I feel that might be overstating it,” he mentioned, including that he thinks it will be a good suggestion. “On the finish of the day, the shareholders must be supportive of this.”
The particular committees haven’t reached settlement on the phrases of any transactions, he mentioned.
The SpaceX IPO cemented Musk’s grip on the corporate — he has greater than 50% voting energy — which might make it simpler to garner help for a merger from SpaceX shareholders. It’s a a lot larger hurdle over at Tesla, the place the corporate would want a 50% vote from all shareholders, not simply those that vote, Musk famous.
“I do assume there’s lots of benefit to combining the businesses as we’re just about within the superintelligence singularity,” Musk mentioned, including there was rather a lot to be gaining from cooperating on creating AI software program, robotics, SpaceX’s orbital AI information middle mission Starmind, and Terafab, the joint chip manufacturing mission between Tesla and SpaceX.
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