Musk says theres a lot of merit to potential merger that would require approval of 50% of Tesla shareholders
Investors will be paying close attention to Teslas third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, after chief executive Elon Musk floated the idea of merging the car company with his rocket and AI company, SpaceX. On a call with SpaceX investors on Tuesday, Musk said: Theres a lot of merit to combining the companies.
Musk said that the board of directors for both of his businesses had put together special committees to explore the potential merger, but had not yet reached an agreement on the terms of the transaction. The move would require the approval of 50% of all Tesla shareholders.
For Teslas earnings on Wednesday, Wall Street is projecting the electric vehicle company to report a revenue of $27.9bn, with 43 cents on earnings per share. That would put the company at a slightly lower revenue than last quarter , which came in with $28.23bn in revenue.
Tesla has experienced a rough year with falling stock and increased competition from cheaper Chinese automakers. The companys share price has fallen by more than 11% this year, although it appears to have rebounded some since last week with the news of the possible SpaceX merger.
Last week, Musk unveiled the companys electric sports car , the Roadster 2, which he said uses technology from SpaceX to basically fly like a rocket. At a demonstration at a SpaceX facility in Texas, a remote-controlled version of the car drove up a steeply curved ramp and then used jet-like thrusters to flip over, hover and land. The vehicle is priced at upwards of $200,000.
Flying cars are real it can basically fly like a rocket, it can do rolls, crazy gymnastics, Musk said at the event, adding that Im not sure its necessarily legal in all jurisdictions.
Teslas vehicle sales are not as crucial to its market performance as they once were, as the company has pivoted towards robotics, autonomous driving and AI. Teslas Optimus robot has faced production hurdles, however; and its driverless taxi service, Robotaxi, has hit road blocks in scaling its fleet and expanding to new cities.
Musk has long declared the Robotaxi will have near-infinite demand and that probably half the population of the US would be using the autonomous ride-hailing service by the end of 2025. Similarly, the CEO has forecast the manufacture of as many as 1m Optimus robots each year. As is frequently the case with Musks promises, he has failed to reach those lofty targets and rollout has been slow.
Teslas leaders continue to make big claims about autonomous mobility and physical AI. The company has achieved remarkable things but continues to miss some of its leaders bolder bets, said Paul Miller, a principal analyst for market research firm Forrester. Tesla robotaxis are undeniably carrying passengers, but not yet at anywhere near the levels the company promised.
马斯克表示，对于一项需要获得特斯拉50%股东批准的潜在合并案，“有很多可取之处”。
投资者将密切关注特斯拉周三发布的第三季度财报电话会议，此前首席执行官埃隆·马斯克提出了将这家汽车公司与他的火箭及人工智能公司SpaceX合并的想法。在周二与SpaceX投资者的电话会议上，马斯克表示：“合并这两家公司有很多好处。”
马斯克表示，他名下两家公司的董事会均已成立特别委员会，以探讨潜在合并事宜，但尚未就交易条款达成一致。此举需获得特斯拉全体股东中50%的赞成票方可实施。
对于特斯拉周三公布的财报，华尔街预计这家电动汽车公司的营收将达到279亿美元，每股收益为43美分。这将使其营收略低于上一季度的282.3亿美元。
特斯拉经历了艰难的一年，股价下跌，同时面临来自更便宜的中国汽车制造商的竞争加剧。该公司股价今年已下跌超过11%，不过自上周传出可能与SpaceX合并的消息以来，股价似乎有所回升。
上周，马斯克发布了公司旗下的电动跑车Roadster 2，并表示该车采用了SpaceX的技术，能够“像火箭一样飞行”。在得克萨斯州一处SpaceX设施进行的演示中，一辆遥控版跑车驶上陡峭的弧形坡道，随后借助类似喷气式推进器的装置完成翻转、悬停并降落。这款车的售价超过20万美元。
马斯克在活动上表示：“飞行汽车是真实存在的——它基本上可以像火箭一样飞行，能完成翻滚动作，还能做各种疯狂的特技。”他补充道：“我不确定它在所有司法管辖区是否都合法。”
特斯拉的汽车销量对其市场表现的重要性已不如从前，因为公司已将重心转向机器人、自动驾驶和人工智能领域。然而，特斯拉的Optimus机器人在生产上遇到了障碍；其无人驾驶出租车服务Robotaxi在扩大车队规模和拓展新城市方面也遭遇了瓶颈。
马斯克长期以来一直宣称，Robotaxi将拥有近乎无限的需求，并且到2025年底，“可能有一半的美国人口”会使用这项自动驾驶叫车服务。同样，这位首席执行官还预测每年将生产多达100万台Optimus机器人。与马斯克过往的承诺一样，他未能实现这些宏伟目标，且推广进展缓慢。
特斯拉的领导人继续在自动驾驶和实体人工智能方面做出大胆宣称。该公司取得了非凡的成就，但仍未实现其领导人一些更为激进的押注，市场研究公司Forrester的首席分析师保罗·米勒表示。特斯拉的无人驾驶出租车确实在载客，但远未达到公司所承诺的水平。
