By Stephen Bartholomeusz
Publication Date: 2026-02-04 00:58:00
Last year, Elon Musk’s xAI artificial intelligence startup bailed out investors in X, his social media platform. Then Musk’s Tesla pumped $2 billion ($2.85 billion) into xAI, burning through more than $1 billion in cash per month. Now he has arranged for SpaceX to merge with xAI in a deal that values the combined companies at $1.25 trillion ($1.8 trillion).
Do you see the pattern? Because one of the companies he controlled needed cash, he turned to another that had it. When that proved insufficient, he turned to one of the two most valuable companies in his orbit—one without the approvals and governance complexities of Tesla—to rescue them.
There was speculation that it would be Tesla that would acquire xAI…
