SpaceX stock rose in late trading after the company reported 161% revenue growth year over year in the third quarter.
Elon Musk, the CEO of both SpaceX and Tesla, voiced support for merging the two companies during an earnings call Tuesday, though he said it is ultimately up to special shareholder committees from each company.
Asked about the long-rumored merger, Musk replied, “this is definitely kind of a question where I feel like I’m tap dancing through a minefield… but I do think there’s a lot of merit to combining the companies.”
The comments appeared to be the most forceful Musk has made publicly. When asked about the potential deal following SpaceX’s blockbuster July IPO, Musk didn’t offer an opinion one way or another, saying “obviously… we can’t talk about combining companies and that kind of thing on an earnings call. It’s got to be done with the appropriate process.”
Musk on Tuesday was careful to manage investors’ expectations about any potential merger. As a “conflicted party,” he said, he cannot be a part of the discussions, noting the decision would be up to shareholders. Historically, Tesla shareholders have broadly fallen in line with Musk’s wishes, however.
SpaceX shares rose nearly 5% in late trading, following its third-quarter earnings report that blew past Wall Street’s expectations. Tesla shares rose a little over 1%.
The rocket, satellite internet, social media and AI company brought in net income of $4.4 billion in the most recent quarter, swinging to a profit after back-to-back quarters of losses this year.
In its second earnings report since going public, SpaceX said it brought in $14.6 billion — up 161% year-over-year, according to the company, driven by what it called its “Super Intelligence” segment and its Starlink satellite-internet business.
Soldiers from a separate task rifle battalion of the National Police of Ukraine set up a Starlink satellite communication terminal at a combat position in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on October 16, 2026.
The big questions about who’s to blame for Starshield disruptions in Ukraine
6 min readWall Street analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected net income of $1.57 billion, with revenue of $12.9 billion. SpaceX reported earnings per share of 35 cents Tuesday, versus 14 cents forecast by analysts.
Ukraine questions cloud SpaceX
Moments before the earnings call Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal published a report saying that Musk “ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink” that blindsided Ukrainian officials.
Musk during the call did not address the Journal report, which cited unnamed people familiar with the matter. CNN couldn’t immediately verify the veracity of the report.
SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Ukraine accused SpaceX last week of severely hindering its defense by suddenly limiting its Starlink internet service, which uses satellites in low orbit. Ukraine has used Starlink and a related military-grade service, Starshield, to communicate quickly and to both launch and prevent drone attacks.
While Musk repeatedly suggested the White House was to blame for the disruption, the Trump administration has denied responsibility. On X, Musk emphasized that Starshield was “owned and controlled by the US government” and that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.”
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