Elon Musk considers merging Tesla and SpaceX

Elon Musk has said he is actively considering merging Tesla and SpaceX, his two biggest companies. "Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes," Musk said during a call with financial analysts to discuss SpaceX's latest results on Tuesday. While Musk noted it could not be assumed a merger will go ahead, and it would need shareholders' support, he said special committees within both companies had been formed to examine the move. "The special committees have not reached agreement on terms of any transaction and there's no guarantee that they will," he said. "But I do think there is a lot of merit to merging and a lot to be gained."

Phil Merchant, Principal (Patent Attorney) and Head of Space Technologies at leading intellectual property law firm, Marks & Clerk, stated that “the combined technological expertise from this potential merger has great potential, but it is worth noting that it will be between two companies with very different Intellectual Property strategies.” He explained that Tesla files for significantly more patents than SpaceX, but these have been “open-sourced” to the public since Tesla’s 2014 “Patent Pledge” with the aim to encourage and guide innovation in the Electric Vehicle market. Merchant added that by contrast, SpaceX is more secretive and relies on trade secrets for its core technologies to avoid providing competitors with a “recipe book.” He concluded that it is likely these two philosophies will continue for different product streams within any new company, but as the technologies become more intertwined, it will be interesting to see in which direction the new company will lean.