SpaceX completed its initial public offering on June 12, 2026, raising $75 billion at a valuation between $1.75 trillion and $1.77 trillion, marking the largest IPO in U.S. history [1, 2, 3]. The company’s market capitalization briefly exceeded $2 trillion following the offering, surpassing Tesla’s pre-IPO value of $1.25 trillion [4, 2, 3]. CEO Elon Musk retains over 80% voting control over SpaceX after the IPO [4].
SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell confirmed that a merger between SpaceX and Tesla could happen in the future. She said it "might make Elon’s life a little easier" and acknowledged the clear synergies between the two firms. "There's no question that there's synergies between Tesla and SpaceX in our futures, definitely, there's a convergence of a kind of what we're all trying to accomplish in the future," she said [5, 4, 2, 6, 3]. However, Shotwell emphasized that she is currently focused on SpaceX's ongoing operations including rocket production, Starlink broadband service, and International Space Station missions rather than merger plans. "I'm not focused on that part of the future, at least," she stated [4, 2, 3].
SpaceX and Tesla have been increasing collaboration. Shared employees and joint projects include the $55 billion Terafab chip manufacturing factory. Tesla also invested in xAI, Elon Musk's AI startup, which merged with SpaceX earlier this year [2, 6, 3]. xAI had previously acquired the social network X, which merged into the combined entity in early 2025 [4, 6]. These moves indicate a trend toward integration across Musk’s business empire [5, 6, 3].
IPO documents disclosed that SpaceX may issue additional shares for mergers and acquisitions, suggesting preparations for deals such as a Tesla merger [5, 3]. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said the Tesla-SpaceX merger could happen as soon as 2027, calling it a "holy grail" AI deal for Musk [2, 3].
SpaceX currently employs about 22,000 full-time workers [1]. The company’s recent spending includes nearly $700 million on Tesla Megapack batteries in 2024-2025 and holding a $60 billion option to acquire AI startup Cursor [4, 6]. Shotwell highlighted the product focus of xAI as part of SpaceX. "Look at our track record, look at our history. We do really difficult things. We do bring them to product level. In fact, xAI is definitely starting to be product-focused," she stated [1].
