A SpaceX Merger Would Reward Musk Loyalists

Before we get into today’s news, check out a string of scoops from my colleague Sri on the rivalry between OpenAI and Anthropic. OpenAI, she reported last night, is talking to Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft about raising up to $60 billion to fill out its $100 billion fundraising, which would widen its funding lead over rival Anthropic. But Anthropic is narrowing the gap when it comes to another important metric—revenue. Sri has the lowdown on Anthropic projections through 2029, including the new date it starts generating cash (and presumably would need less investor money!)

Now, onto the latest endeavor of the world’s richest man. 

Ever since I broke the news in December that SpaceX was planning an initial public offering this year, it has remained a top news story, with every little half-thought about the company’s upcoming public debut generating headlines. 

But today’s latest development is actually significant. Reuters reported what many people have speculated might happen: that SpaceX is in talks to merge with xAI before the IPO.

This is both surprising and unsurprising. It’s surprising in the sense that it is a particularly large acquisition for SpaceX to make just months before it goes public (xAI was recently valued at $230 billion in a fundraising). As my colleague Cory Weinberg noted, that’s a lot of last-minute paperwork.