Tesla investors want answers about a potential merger with SpaceX

• Tesla investors are clamoring for more details about a rumored merger with SpaceX.
• A shareholder Q&A forum for Tesla's earnings call has been flooded with questions about the potential tie-up.
• Speculation about a merger has been growing among analysts, and SpaceX's president has not ruled it out.

Whispers that Elon Musk might combine Tesla and SpaceX are growing — and investors want answers.

Shareholders took to an online Tesla investor forum to submit questions for executives ahead of the company's second-quarter earnings and clamor for more details about a rumored merger with SpaceX.

"Will SpaceX merge with Tesla?" asked one retail investor, in a question representing around 100,000 Tesla shares. Others asked if investors would get a vote on any proposed merger and how executives would ensure that a tie-up treats Tesla investors fairly.

One retail investor asked how Musk would balance his compensation plan, which requires the Tesla CEO to hit a series of ambitious goals to unlock the full $1 trillion payout, with a SpaceX merger.

"To reward long-term Tesla retail shareholders for their loyalty, can you commit to achieving at least half of the goals outlined in your 2025 compensation plan before considering any offers to acquire or merge Tesla?" they wrote in a post that has received nearly 300 votes.

Musk's goals include passing 20 million EV sales, 10 million Full Self-Driving subscriptions, and deploying 1 million robotaxis and Optimus robots.

While the majority of questions on the Q&A platform were focused on Tesla's sluggish robotaxi rollout and plans for Optimus, Business Insider counted at least 20 questions about the potential merger, making it one of the most-discussed topics among investors.

It's a sign that Tesla investors are increasingly responding to rampant speculation about a mega-merger with SpaceX, which raised a record $86 billion in a blockbuster IPO last month.

Longtime Tesla investor Ross Gerber told Business Insider he expected the merger to come up in Tesla's Q2 earnings call on Wednesday.

"I expect management to downplay it, because on the surface it does not create obvious value for either company. It would be complicated, distracting, and difficult to structure in a way that makes everyone happy," said Gerber, who is the CEO of wealth management firm Gerber Kawasaki.

Gerber added that the slow pace of Tesla's robotaxi expansion, which he said underpinned the company's $1.4 trillion valuation, is investors' main focus right now. However, he still expects a tie-up with SpaceX to happen eventually.

"SpaceX is where much of the innovation and excitement is right now, while Tesla's core EV business is under increasing pressure," Gerber said.

"If investor interest continues shifting away from EVs and toward SpaceX's growth story, a merger may become a way to reframe Tesla around Elon's stronger innovation platform," he added.

Tesla and SpaceX's share prices have both languished in the past month. Tesla's stock is down nearly 8%, while SpaceX has fallen 35% as the rocket maker's shares tumbled from their post-IPO peak.

Investors and Tesla bulls previously told Business Insider that a combination would make it easier for the two companies, which are already heavily intertwined, to work together.

SpaceX and Tesla are already collaborating on Musk's Terafab chip-building moonshot, and SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell didn't rule out a merger last month.

"That might make Elon's life a little easier, actually," Shotwell said.

"There's no question that there's synergies between Tesla and SpaceX in our futures, definitely, there's a convergence of a kind of what we're all trying to accomplish in the future," she added.