Musk Hints at Tesla-SpaceX Merger on Q2 Call; TSLA Falls 5% Premarket
- On Tesla's Q2 2026 earnings call, Elon Musk told a Wells Fargo analyst there is 'more and more overlap' with SpaceX — particularly via Terafab — but said combining companies 'has to be done with the appropriate process'; Tesla GC confirmed a 'framework agreement' with SpaceX disclosed in SpaceX's S-1.
- Tesla reported Q2 GAAP net income of $1.1B, of which ~$750M was a mark-to-market gain on its SpaceX stake; operating income was just $398M (1.4% margin), and free cash flow turned negative — shares slid ~5% premarket to ~$353 on July 23.
- Deepwater's Gene Munster raised the probability of a SpaceX-Tesla merger to 90% from 80%; analysts flag governance and self-deal risk given Musk controls 85% of SpaceX voting power vs. ~20% economic stake in Tesla (Source: Electrek, CNN, TradingKey).