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does he need spacex/xai to prop up tesla or the other way around?
by brokensegue 8mo ago
does he need spacex/xai to prop up tesla or the other way around?
- paxys 8mo agoTesla is still very profitable, as is SpaceX I assume. Twitter/X has been a $44 billion dollar failure, and xAI is a vanity project so Musk can go around saying he is a player in the AI space. Investors in both X and xAI need to be bailed out, hence this announcement.
- verzali 8mo agoI think its an effort to position SpaceX as an AI company in order to justify some ridiculous valuation at IPO.
- Ifkaluva 8mo agoI think it's more so that the upcoming new public shareholders of SpaceX bail out his X/xAI misadventure.
- kypro 8mo agoDo you genuinely not think that "Elon" (xAI) is player in the AI space? You don't have to think they have the best models of course, but they are clearly a very significant, and some might argue, leading player in the AI race.
- CryptoBanker 8mo agoxAI’s models are really not pioneering at all. They weren’t the first to do MoE. Not the first to do open weighting, not the first to have memory or multi-modal vision. So no, I wouldn’t say Elon is a major player in the AI space. People use his models because they are cheap and are willing to undress people’s photos.
- tacoooooooo 8mo agosaying they aren't pioneering is very different than saying they aren't a major player in the space. There're only like 5-7 players with a foundational model that they can serve at scale. xAI is one of them
- paxys 8mo ago> and some might argue, leading player in the AI race What is this argument exactly? What are they leading?
- johnsmith1840 8mo agoIt is a real model, real datacenters, and deployed heavily on their social media platform. That's the full stack? Only other player that vertically setup is facebook, google and microsoft.
- __alexs 8mo agoTesla has a P/E in the hundreds and a ~0.3% market cap to profit ratio. In what world is this "very" profitable?
- paxys 8mo agoIn the world where it makes $8-10B in profit on $90-95 billion in revenue every year. Whatever price investors choose to trade the stock at is irrelevant to those numbers.
- spikels 8mo agoThe $44B Twitter/X buyout was not a failure. For example Fidelity has its $19M investment in the buyout - now xAI common shares - marked at $62M (up over 3X) as of 12/31/25. It was certainly valued even higher on 1/31/26 after xAI had an oversubcribed fund raise in January. All before this merger announcement.
- paxys 8mo agoThe fact that it had to be successively bailed out by xAI (which itself was funded by Tesla) and now SpaceX shareholders is exactly what makes the acquisition a failure.
- torginus 8mo agoHe spent other people's money (or maybe even imaginary money) he couldn't have used for himself (since selling off major stakes in your company is a big nono)
- spikels 8mo agoA "bailout" is when a company rescued from bankruptcy. Common equity holders take large losses or are wiped out. This did not happen here. We also know the Twitter buyout debt was sold at near par before the merger with xAI which is inconsistent with being near bankruptcy.
- cowsandmilk 8mo ago> xAI had an oversubcribed fund raise in January My understanding is that it was not oversubscribed and would not have closed without Tesla’s investment.
- spikels 8mo agoIt was originally for $15B. They raised $20B of which $2B was from Tesla. Your sources might be shady (Elektrek?).
- churchill 8mo ago[dead]
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- SilverElfin 8mo agoI suspect SpaceX will acquire Tesla at some point. It’s the most profitable of these companies. So basically SpaceX employees and shareholders are covering up for the failing Tesla business and the already-failed xAI business. Let’s not forget, xAI is the parent of Twitter/X (the social network). So now, taxpayers are paying to keep Twitter/X alive. After all, it is taxpayer money going to the contracts the government gives SpaceX for launches. Nice way to subsidize what is effectively a one sided campaign machine for the GOP and far right.
- AirMax98 8mo agoThis was my immediate thought as well. A great time to ask yourself — why am I literally paying for any of this? At best I literally don't use any of these services, at worst they are actively used against me.
- bhouston 8mo ago> I suspect SpaceX will acquire Tesla at some point. I think that is also likely, unless Tesla can stage a major turnaround, it is going to be beaten by Chinese competitors nearly everywhere that they are allowed (which is everywhere but the USA.)
- senko 8mo agoI get what you're saying, but that taxpayer money is paying for the launch services at a very competitive rate (possibly the cheapest of all available options), not a subsidy scheme.
- aaaalone 8mo ago[dead]
- matwood 8mo ago> I suspect SpaceX will acquire Tesla at some point. Tesla will have to lose its meme status first, otherwise they would be paying real money to make the acquisition close. The other acquisitions are using VC valuations which Musk has a big hand in. Matt Levine did a whole thing on it when xAI acquired X.
- Ifkaluva 8mo agoI guess the difference is Tesla is a public company, so requires more paperwork. SpaceX isn't public yet, but will be soon, meaning it will have a cash infusion.