Elon Musk says Tesla and SpaceX are weighing a $3.5 trillion merger—without him in the room

It’s official: Tesla and SpaceX are in talks. Independent board members at the two Elon Musk-led companies have formed special committees to hash over a possible merger, Musk told investors during SpaceX’s third-quarter earnings call Tuesday.

“These special committees consist of independent directors, and because I’m a conflicted party, I can’t actually be in the discussions of the special committees,” said Musk, who was asked about a potential combination during the call. “This is definitely the kind of question where I feel like I’m tap dancing through a minefield.”

Tesla stock rose just over 1% in after hours trading, while SpaceX rose above 5% following the Q&A with Wall Street analysts featuring Musk, SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell, and chief financial officer Bret Johnsen.

Musk said the committees haven’t reached any kind of an agreement on the terms of a potential transaction, and there’s no guarantee that they will. He noted that “some people out there assume that a SpaceX and Tesla merger is a certainty, and I think that would be overstating it.” Musk also has to walk a fine line as a conflicted party. As the CEO of both companies, he owns a roughly 20% stake in Tesla and 45% of........

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