Elon Musk's merger math

Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Note: SpaceX shares began publicly trading on June 12.; Chart: Dan Primack/AxiosThe inevitable merger of SpaceX and Tesla took an orbital leap forward yesterday, with Elon Musk calling it "a good idea" and both companies forming special committees to discuss a deal.Why it matters: This would be the largest corporate tie-up in history.SpaceX ended trading yesterday with a $1.95 trillion market cap, making it the country's seventh most valuable company, while Tesla landed in 11th place with a $1.48 trillion market cap. Shares of both companies are up sharply this morning.The record-holder is Vodafone paying $183 billion for Mannesmann in 2000, which works out to around $350 billion when adjusting for inflation.Flashback: When SpaceX absorbed xAI earlier this year, we noted that Tesla was a likely next step. And not just because it would simplify the Elon Inc. org chart."Musk is ... betting his empire on the idea of orbital data centers that are powered by the sun ... Tesla would make the chips, SpaceX would be responsible for launch and satellites, and xAI would build the models and agentic networks."Zoom in: Musk essentially controls the vote at Space…

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