Elon Musk's net worth could reach $2 trillion as a rumored SpaceX-Tesla merger may be just weeks away, analyst predicts Chris Morris Fri, October 16, 2026 at 5:00 AM EDT 5 min read SPCX -2.33% TSLA -1.29% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Since SpaceX [NASDAQ: SPCX] went public with its historic initial public offering on June 12, Elon Musk has been flirting with trillionaire status, having reached that milestone a few times before market fluctuations brought him back down to a simple billionaire.
But if Barclays analyst Dan Levy's recent prediction were to come true, Musk's net worth could soon reach or even top $2 trillion.
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A rumored merger of Musk's two most valuable companies — SpaceX and Tesla [NASDAQ: TSLA] — could be just weeks away, Levy shared with Investor's Business Daily, adding that the reported "megadeal" could be announced before Tesla's annual meeting, which should take place in early December. As Levy explained, this timing would give Tesla shareholders the opportunity to vote on the potential merger at the annual meeting.
"The merger would likely be pitched as an AI vertical integration play," said Levy, according to Investor's Business Daily. "Combining the physical AI aspects of Tesla (i.e., Robotaxi, Optimus) with the virtual AI aspects of SpaceX (i.e., Grok, Macrohard)."
Since the SpaceX IPO, speculation on Musk's potential to consolidate his business empire has been growing steadily. And if he decides to do so, such a move could trigger a clause in his Tesla contract that would accelerate a massive $1 trillion payday package, according to The Wall Street Journal.
A line buried in the contract, at the bottom of the fifth page, declares half of the targets Musk previously had to meet in order to earn the payout would be considered met if Tesla is acquired or taken over.
Musk reportedly lobbied for the $1 trillion pay package and even indicated he could leave the company if it wasn't approved. Still, the package was once seen by many as a long shot of ever being realized.
The agreement was made up of 12 tranches of shares to be granted to Musk if Tesla hit certain milestones in the next decade. The first of those required Tesla to hit a market capitalization of $2 trillion — the company currently has a market cap of $1.46 trillion. The next nine tranches see Musk earning more stock each time Tesla's value increases by $500 billion, up to $6.5 trillion.
The final two tranches require market cap rises of $1 trillion each, which means Tesla would need to hit a market cap of $8.5 trillion for Musk to get the full package.
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The Wall Street Journal laid out a SpaceX offer that valued Tesla at a 54% premium, making this potential merger a $2 trillion deal. In an all-stock deal, Tesla shareholders would reportedly receive 3.8 shares in the combined company for each share they own.
Musk, meanwhile, would retain complete operational control of both companies. His Class B shares have 10 times the voting power of publicly traded Class A shares, giving him 73% of the voting power at SpaceX. Even if the deal values Tesla at a whopping $8.5 trillion, Musk would retain 56% of the voting power.
To get the full $1 trillion pay package, SpaceX would have to buy Tesla at that $8.5 trillion valuation.
Since talk began about his massive Tesla pay package, Musk has insisted it was not about the money, it was about control, saying "I just don't feel comfortable building a robot army here and then being ousted because of some asinine recommendations from ISS and Glass Lewis who have no freaking clue," on Tesla's quarterly earnings call last October.
Company officials agreed. "It's less about compensation and more about the voting influence," Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm told CNBC at the time.
It's worth noting that because the number of Tesla shares has increased since the pay package was signed, Musk's Tesla package would no longer hit $1 trillion, but would come in at about $824 billion.
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This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Elon Musk's net worth could reach $2 trillion as a rumored SpaceX-Tesla merger may be just weeks away, analyst predicts
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