Elon Musk

Tesla

America

<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/elon-musk-crypto-just-placed-huge-midterm-bets-and-traders-should-pay-attention" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Elon Musk</a>’s $1 trillion Tesla payday may never fully materialize, but a merger with SpaceX could give him something he values more.
Musk said on a SpaceX earnings call last month that both companies’ boards had formed special committees to discuss a potential merger.
As reported<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/musks-pay-under-spacex-tesla-merger-voting-control-no-1-trillion-payday-2026-11-03/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> by Reuters, </a>a deal would likely award Musk only a sliver of the up to $1 trillion in stock from Tesla’s 2025 pay package. SpaceX’s board could also restructure his compensation plan after a potential Tesla deal, experts told Reuters.
“My fundamental concern with regard to how much voting control I have in Tesla is: If I go ahead and build this enormous robot army, can I just be ​ousted at some point in the future?” Musk said on an October 2025 Tesla earnings <a href="https://x.com/CernBasher/status/1981262774203191621" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">call</a>.
<h2 id="musk-gets-56-control-even-without-hitting-targets">Musk gets 56% control, even without hitting targets</h2>
If SpaceX acquired Tesla at current sizes, Musk would own about 37% of the combined company but hold 56% of the voting power, Reuters quoted Barclays estimating it.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/musk-warned-america-will-go-1000-bankrupt-now-u-s-debt-tops-40-trillion-and-counting" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Musk warned America will go 1,000% bankrupt. Now U.S. debt tops $40 trillion and counting</a>
This is because many of his SpaceX shares carry 10 times the voting rights of ordinary shares, while Tesla has no such dual-class share structure.
Under Tesla’s own plan, even a near eightfold jump in market value would leave him with about 29% voting power.
Tesla is valued at about $1.6 trillion. A merger would have to value it at $2 trillion for Musk to receive any stock, roughly $20 billion in shares at that level.
Charles Elson of the University of Delaware called the pay package “a distraction from the real story, which is complete control.”
Musk’s potential gains could increase further if the combined company’s market capitalization climbed to $2.5 trillion, $3 trillion or beyond following a deal. However, experts told Reuters that such a valuation premium would be unlikely.
<blockquote>
 Matthew Bloomfield, an associate professor of accounting at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, told Reuters, “You put a bunch of ambitious stuff in there and a lot of people say. Look at this ​big bet Elon Musk is putting on himself. In reality, the plan is mostly about getting a bunch of people hyped.”&nbsp;
</blockquote>
<h2 id="what-a-merger-means-for-musk-s-bitcoin">What a merger means for Musk’s Bitcoin</h2>
A merger would also put both of Musk’s Bitcoin treasuries under one roof.
Tesla holds 11,509 BTC, while SpaceX disclosed 18,712 BTC in its <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/elon-musk-has-a-bold-answer-to-americas-40-trillion-debt-crisis" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">IPO filing</a>. Together, that is 30,221 BTC, worth about $2.32 billion at Bitcoin’s Oct. 31 price of $76,786.
Musk has argued that Bitcoin, unlike “fake” fiat currency, is backed by energy and cannot be debased like <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/elon-musks-ai-warning-about-the-dollar-is-starting-to-come-true" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">printed dollars</a>.
His track record has been mixed, though. Musk called himself “a supporter of Bitcoin” in 2021, but Tesla sold 75% of its stake in 2022.
In 2021, he <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2021/02/01/elon-musk-bitcoin-on-the-verge-of-broad-acceptance/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">called himself</a> “a supporter of Bitcoin" but months later, Tesla <a href="https://www.theblock.co/news/ecosystems/2022-07-20-tesla-sold-936-million-in-bitcoin-in-the-second-quarter-158765" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">stopped</a> accepting it as payment over environmental concerns.&nbsp;
With 56% of the vote, Musk would effectively have the final say over the merged company’s <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/bitcoins-350000-price-target-comes-with-a-terrifying-warning-analyst-says" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin</a>.
<h2 id="the-roundtable-100">The Roundtable 100</h2>
If you follow our market coverage, don’t miss the <a href="https://roundtable100.com/tab/rankings" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Roundtable 100</a>. Updated every Friday, it's a power ranking of the 100 most investable tech stocks, including digital assets. Check out the latest <a href="https://roundtable100.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">RTB 100</a> rankings at <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">roundtable100.com</a>.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/dave-ramseys-investing-advice-falls-short-study-finds" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Dave Ramsey's investing advice falls short, study finds</a>

Musk could miss his $1 trillion payday but gain control of a $2 billion Bitcoin stash

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