Elon Musk would hold about 56% of the votes in a combined SpaceX-Tesla company while owning about 37% of it, according to a Barclays estimate. No deal is agreed, and both boards have special committees studying a combination.
If SpaceX bought Tesla at the companies' current sizes, Musk would own about 37% of the combined firm but hold about 56% of the votes. That comes from a Barclays estimate cited by Reuters on Tuesday, as Wall Street weighs the odds of a merger.
Why the voting gap opens
Barclays said the gap comes from SpaceX shares that carry 10 times the voting rights of a typical share. Tesla's pay package would not close it: even if Musk hit every milestone in last year's package, board documents put his Tesla voting power at about 29%. He has not yet hit any of those targets.
SpaceX took the opposite path ahead of its IPO this summer. Voting power on awarded shares arrived immediately while the economic rights stayed tied to goals, which lifted Musk to about 85% control of SpaceX, according to Reuters.
What a deal could mean for Musk's Tesla pay
Under Tesla's change-in-control language, a SpaceX acquisition could let Musk earn stock for market-cap goals alone, without an operational mark such as 1 million robotaxis. The first award would require Tesla's market capitalization to reach about $2 trillion in connection with a deal. That award would be worth about $20 billion in shares at that valuation. Tesla was at about $1.6 trillion in the Reuters account.
Compensation experts consulted for the review said a merger would initially deliver only a sliver of the headline $1 trillion Tesla package. They added that SpaceX's board could also rewrite Musk's SpaceX plan after a deal.
Charles Elson, founding director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, told Reuters the milestones miss the point. According to Elson: "This package is a distraction from the real story, which is complete control."
No transaction is agreed, and Barclays recently set a $450 price target on Tesla.
Source: TeslaNorth.com
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