Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, interviews with CNBC during the company’s IPO at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City on June 12, 2026.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
As SpaceX was poised to hit the Nasdaq following the largest initial public offering on record, Elon Musk’s second-in-command, Gwynne Shotwell, didn’t dismiss the possibility of an eventual tie-up with Tesla, Musk’s other trillion-dollar company.
Speaking to CNBC’s Morgan Brennan on Friday, Shotwell said such a combination “might make Elon’s life a little easier.”
Musk officially became the world’s first trillionaire due to his stakes in the two companies. At SpaceX, he has hefty control over decision-making, with over 80% voting power. He sits on Tesla’s board and tends to get his way.
Shotwell is SpaceX’s operating chief and joined in 2002 as one of the rocket maker’s earliest employees. Whatever might happen in the years to come, Shotwell said she has plenty of work to do today. SpaceX’s market cap opened above $2 trillion, making it the sixth most valuable U.S. company, ahead of Tesla.
“There’s a convergence of what we’re all trying to accomplish in the future, but right now I’m focused on keeping the lights on here,” Shotwell said.
Musk has a history of combining his entities.
In February, he merged SpaceX with xAI, his artificial intelligence startup, in a deal that valued the combined company at $1.25 trillion. The main reason for that deal, he said at the time, is to better build “orbital data centers.”
The transaction brought to SpaceX data centers as well as Grok’s AI models, AI chatbot and image generator. It also included social network X, formerly known as Twitter, because Musk had merged X and xAI in early 2025.
Tesla and SpaceX already share resources, including engineers, and Musk has discussed merging the companies, CNBC previously reported. Tesla owns stock in SpaceX after investing in xAI.
Shotwell acknowledged that both companies align, but said she’s focused on building rockets, improving broadband access and getting to the International Space Station.
But she acknowledged that M&A will continue to play a role, “especially when you look at the AI world.” SpaceX owns an option to buy AI-coding startup Cursor for $60 billion.
“I think you’ll see more of that just generally,” she said.
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
WATCH: CNBC’s full interview with SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell
