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SpaceX and Tesla weigh a merger that would put 30,221 bitcoin on one balance sheet
Summary
Elon Musk said on SpaceX's third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday that SpaceX and Tesla have each formed special committees of independent directors to assess a possible merger of the two companies, CoinDesk and Decrypt reported.
A combination would join SpaceX's reported 18,712 BTC with Tesla's 11,509 BTC for a total of 30,221 BTC, which Decrypt valued at roughly $2.5 billion with bitcoin near $83,000.
Musk said he thinks a deal would be a good idea but that shareholders have to support it, and that "the special committees have not reached agreement on the terms of any transaction," per CoinDesk; Decrypt quoted him cautioning that treating a deal as "a certainty" would be "overstating it."
Decrypt noted neither company has signaled plans to buy or sell bitcoin, and that a merger would change governance and accounting for the holdings rather than anything about bitcoin itself.
Key facts
- Musk's interests in both companies keep him out of the committee discussions; he called it "an odd kabuki dance where two groups of people are talking, and I can't be in the conversation," CoinDesk reported.
- SpaceX's 18,712 BTC was disclosed in the S-1 it filed ahead of its June IPO, more than double what blockchain trackers had previously attributed to SpaceX wallets, according to Decrypt.
- The combined cost basis across both firms is around $1 billion, implying an average buy price near $35,000 per coin, Decrypt reported.
- SpaceX reported third-quarter revenue of $14.58 billion against a $12.7 billion consensus and earnings of 35 cents a share versus a 15-cent forecast, and its shares rose about 9% in premarket trading on Wednesday, CoinDesk reported.
- Musk owns about 36% of SpaceX outright, or 48.4% including restricted shares and unexercised options, and reported beneficial ownership of 19.8% of Tesla, according to CoinDesk, citing a June filing.
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