News alert: An Elon Musk mega-merger
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Elon Musk disclosed Tuesday that the boards of Tesla and SpaceX have set up special committees of independent directors to examine whether the two companies should combine — a deal that, at a combined valuation of roughly $3.5 trillion, would surpass every other corporate merger on record. Musk said he favors the idea but warned it is far from certain, and that a deal would require support from 50% of all Tesla shareholders. “Some people out there assume that a SpaceX and Tesla merger is a certainty,” Musk said. “I think that would be overstating it.”
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Here's what you need to know
SpaceX posted its first quarterly profit as a public company. SpaceX earned $4.4 billion after a $1.1 billion loss in last year's third quarter, while revenue more than doubled to $14.6 billion. Its AI business brought in $7.6 billion, up from $813 million a year earlier, and now outsells Starlink.
OpenAI wants to raise $30 billion before Anthropic goes public. Some investors reportedly see the push as a way to lock up money that might otherwise go into Anthropic's upcoming stock market debut. The round could value OpenAI at more than $1.4 trillion, up from $852 billion in March.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt owns about 1% of Anthropic. The stake, which he bought for tens of millions of dollars in 2021, could push his net worth to nearly $80 billion if Anthropic goes public at $2 trillion. Anthropic was valued at just $461 million when Schmidt made his first investment.
Amazon plans to hire a record 300,000-plus holiday workers. That's 20% more than last year and the first increase in the company's holiday hiring goal in three years. Starting in January, seasonal workers putting in at least 30 hours a week will get health coverage from their first day.
The latest AI wearables could break some state wiretap laws. Apple's newest Watch and Amazon's Bee devices summarize conversations with or without people's consent, potentially falling afoul of state laws. The companies say they don't save the audio, but some lawyers say that may not matter.
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