Johnson Vows Major Scrutiny of Any Potential Tesla-SpaceX Merger
Key Facts
Nathan Johnson, Texas’s attorney general-elect, said any potential merger between Tesla and SpaceX would warrant major scrutiny, citing the scale of the two companies and the significance of a possible deal. “Any merger between two companies of this size deserves major scrutiny,” Johnson said in an interview at Bloomberg’s office in Dallas on Thursday. The remarks put the prospect of a deal in a regulatory and political context in Texas, but do not mean a formal review has begun or that any decision has been made. They came nine days after Democrats won in the state, which has been governed by Republicans since the 1990s. Johnson had indicated that a deal of this size would require extensive examination, without announcing a final position on it.
The companies are considering deepening their relationship through two special committees formed independently. Tesla said in its filing that its committee comprises independent, disinterested members and is tasked with exploring ways to deepen its relationship with SpaceX, which could include a merger. SpaceX, in turn, disclosed that it had formed a special committee to evaluate a potential combination of the two companies. SpaceX said the committee had made no decision on the potential deal. The disclosures show that the matter remains under consideration, while Tesla’s wording leaves the committee’s options open as it examines the relationship.
SpaceX set corporate requirements before any potential deal could be completed: additional approval would be required from its special committee, its board of directors and its controlling shareholder. The company said in its filing that “there can be no assurance that any agreement will be reached.” This means forming the committees and beginning the exploration do not amount to reaching binding terms or completing a deal. The approvals specified by the company also remain necessary steps in the process it described, even if the committee recommends moving ahead. Johnson’s remarks, meanwhile, did not specify the outcome of that process or his office’s position on the details of a deal that has yet to take shape.
The merger discussions coincide with a sharp improvement in SpaceX’s quarterly results. The company reported net income of $4.4 billion in the third quarter of 2026, compared with a net loss of $1.1 billion in the third quarter of 2025, an improvement of $5.5 billion, according to its filing. Revenue was $14.6 billion, up 161% year over year. SpaceX attributed revenue growth to its superintelligence segment and accelerating growth in communications. The figures highlight the scale of the company’s turnaround between the two periods, from a net loss a year earlier to a profit in its latest reported quarter.
Communications was one of the growth drivers SpaceX cited in its results, with revenue rising 69% year over year in the third quarter of 2026 and operating income increasing 99%. The company linked the performance to adoption of its services by businesses and government entities, as well as growth in Starlink subscribers. The figures put communications expansion alongside the superintelligence segment in the company’s explanation for the increase in quarterly revenue. Tesla’s results, by contrast, showed pressure on operating income, which was $718 million in the third quarter of 2026, compared with $1.624 billion in the same period of 2025. That represents a decline of about 56% year over year.
Tesla reported that research and development expenses rose 69% in the three months ended September 30, 2026, an increase of $1.13 billion from the same period. The company attributed the additional spending to costs related to its superintelligence and Optimus programs, as well as silicon, battery and vehicle program development. In another filing for the period ended in September, Tesla said it invested $2.00 billion to buy common shares in SpaceX during the first nine months of 2026. This points to an existing financial relationship alongside the companies’ exploration of deeper ties, while the investment alone does not determine the form of any future arrangement. The two committees and the specific SpaceX approvals described in its filing remain among the steps involved in evaluating any deal.
In the market, Tesla shares closed at $390.22 on November 13, 2026, while SpaceX shares closed at $139.11 on the same day. The closing prices provide a snapshot of the cited trading session, alongside Johnson’s remarks and the companies’ quarterly disclosures. But the figures do not establish the direction of investor reaction to the attorney general’s remarks, nor do they show that the deal has entered an execution phase. Given the companies’ differing operating performance, Tesla’s investment in SpaceX shares and the approval requirements announced by SpaceX, any combination remains contingent on the conclusions of the committees and the parties whose approval is required. The available disclosure included no decision by SpaceX’s committee and no assurance that an agreement would be reached.