DOMINANT ANGLE
Brasília is weighing the Tesla-SpaceX merger based on the numbers: revenue up 161%, a valuation of around $3,000 billion, and an upcoming shareholder vote.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
SpaceX's quarterly revenue increased by 161%, to $14.6 billion (73.1 billion reais), versus the $12.9 billion expected (Folha).
- 02
Musk says he will not participate in any board discussions due to a conflict of interest and considers the merger "a good idea" (Folha, Estadão).
- 03
In the best-case scenario, confirmation could come as early as December, at Tesla's annual investor meeting (Estadão).
ANALYSIS
Brasília, October 21, 2026. The Brazilian press is treating the matter as a market and governance issue. Folha de S.Paulo, which reprints a dispatch from the Financial Times, and UOL Notícias report that SpaceX and Tesla have created "special committees" to study a merger between the two listed companies of Elon Musk. He, presented as "the richest man in the world", has deemed the combination "a good idea", while specifying that "shareholders must ultimately support it" and that the committees have reached no agreement. He claims not to be participating in the discussions of either of the two boards of directors, due to a conflict of interest.
The figures are taking center stage. According to Folha, SpaceX's quarterly revenue has jumped 161%, driven by contracts for renting its data centers: $14.6 billion (73.1 billion reais) in the third quarter, compared to $5.6 billion a year earlier and $12.9 billion expected by analysts. The net profit reaches $4.4 billion. After the close, Tesla's stock gained around 1% and SpaceX's 4.5%. The newspaper also recalls the close collaboration between the two groups, particularly in Terafab, a semiconductor manufacturing project in Texas that could cost $119 billion.
Estadão, via its TecMundo section, relies on Reuters and details the scenario. The committees have not yet set terms and "there is no guarantee that they will succeed". Musk states that the merger "has a lot of merit" and "a lot to gain". The newspaper estimates that he should find support from Tesla, which recently approved a bonus of one thousand billion dollars for him, and that, in the most optimistic scenario, an announcement could come in December, during Tesla's annual investor meeting. The article lists what the conglomerate would bring together: SpaceX rockets, Starlink satellite internet, Tesla electric cars and humanoid robots, and xAI with the X network and Grok. The combined market value would approach $3,000 billion.
The perspective is therefore that of the investor: valuation, shareholder vote, calendar. The issues of concentration of power or regulation remain absent from these articles, which mainly evoke the industrial logic around artificial intelligence and the announced support of shareholders.
