Elon Musk says Tesla and SpaceX are officially exploring a world-historically ginormous merger. The move would focus Musk’s corporate power into one super-firm, and potentially function as a loophole that would earn him a pay package worth something in the neighborhood of $1 trillion. But an anonymously-sourced Bloomberg story claims that Musk, or someone involved in the merger, thinks the clock is ticking, and that Musk would need to finish merging these companies before the end of Donald Trump’s presidential term.
Tesla and SpaceX didn’t return Bloomberg’s requests for comment about this supposed timing issue. They also didn’t answer Gizmodo’s question on the same topic.
And it’s worth reading Bloomberg’s exact phrasing, which is a little on the opaque side:
“With Trump approaching the second half of his final term and jittery markets threatening the exuberance underpinning Musk’s empire, there’s a push to announce a deal by the first half of 2027 so that it closes during this administration, according to people familiar with the matter.”
Other than Democrats potentially doing things to markets that would put a damper on “exuberance”—with their Democrat-y vibes, I guess—it’s not clear what the snag would be. But one obvious issue that arises to block a merger is antitrust. Spacesla (or whatever it would be called) would combine two companies whose AI interests are already mingled. They’re both investors in the Terafab AI chip plant, an Tesla was an investor in xAI before it was owned by SpaceX. But does anyone consider the two companies to be AI competitors whose consolidation would give AI customers a bad deal?
On the other hand, a piece in Politico yesterday goes a little way toward spelling out what—other than potential trust-busting—would be so terrible for this merger if the Democrats had more power. They’re reportedly champing at the bit to make Musk’s life a little more difficult if they win at least one chamber of Congress in the midterms. Alleged SpaceX and Tesla-related conflicts seem to be on their mind, as are Musk’s DOGE-era federal budget cuts.
On Wednesday, Musk responded to that Politico article on X with almost-literal saber-rattling. He said, “Live by the sword, die by the sword,” and added, “Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets.”
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Those who pick fights with me should understand that I will find out who is really pulling the strings and come for them, not just their puppets … https://t.co/L7xNa6yCm0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2026
According to a Wednesday research memo from JPMorgan, reviewed by Benzinga, one issue Democrats, or any political adversaries really, might latch onto is Tesla’s huge operation in China. That country accounts for about 20% of revenue for the auto company. If Tesla were the same company as SpaceX—a major defense contractor and the operator of Starlink, which is illegal in China—that could present some sticky regulatory wickets. But as a remedy, JPMorgan suggests Tesla China could be transferred to a consortium of Chinese companies, like TikTok U.S. in reverse.
But the story Bloomberg’s anonymous sources are telling might be more revealing than they intend. By not spelling out what the vulnerabilities supposedly are that Democrats might find and exploit, it may be that Musk just thinks the Democrats will try to place things he wants out of reach—whatever those things might be. And that in turn hints at just how much Musk might want this merger.
