SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell just gave another hint about the Tesla merger

All eyes are on the IPO of SpaceX – the world’s largest in history – and its CEO Elon Musk. But lest you forget, there’s another publicly traded company in Musk’s world that many believe will one day merge with SpaceX.

We’re talking about Tesla, which has a current market cap of about $1.26 trillion. Musk, who also leads Tesla, has portrayed it as a company specializing in artificial intelligence and robotics, although the bulk of its revenue still comes from selling electric cars. Some see the merger with SpaceX as a crucial step to achieving this vision.

SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell appears to be open to the idea. During an interview with CNBC, Shotwell said the merger “might make Elon’s life a little easier.”

There is evidence that SpaceX is already preparing for this. The company amended its S-1 registration document ahead of its public debut to include new language in its risk factors section about mergers and acquisitions. The added sentence, which states “we may issue a significant amount of stock in connection with future transactions,” is a warning to investors of future dilution. Such a warning would not be necessary for a small-sized transaction; He probably means Tesla.

As a reminder, Musk feels quite comfortable bringing the disparate parts of his portfolio together. SpaceX acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, earlier this year. xAI acquired Musk’s social media company, X, in an all-stock deal the previous year.