Mike Blake/Reuters
- Elon Musk thinks it would be a “good idea” to bring his four businesses — Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company — under a giant holding company, he tweeted Wednesday.
- YouTuber and Tesla investor Dave Lee suggested the idea on Twitter. He said the holding company could be called “X,” and would make it easier for Musk to manage his current ventures and start new ones.
- “X could become the most significant enterprise in human history,” Lee added.
- “Good idea,” Musk replied.
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Elon Musk thinks combining his four businesses under a giant holding company called “X” is a “good idea,” he said on Twitter Wednesday.
Musk owns or part-owns electric car maker Tesla, aerospace giant SpaceX, neurotech company Neuralink, and transport tunnel maker Boring Company. Currently, only Tesla is publicly-traded.
YouTuber and Tesla investor Dave Lee tweeted Musk with the idea on Wednesday. The holding company would make it easier for Musk to manage his current ventures as well as start new ones, Lee said.
X would become the parent company of Musk’s four businesses, and its mission would be “to ensure human survival and progress,” Lee wrote in the tweet.
“X could become the most significant enterprise in human history,” Lee added.
The purpose of the holding company wouldn't be to increase the market capitalization or stock price of Musk's firms, but instead enable him "to continue to make big bets for humanity, and have the time to manage them," Lee said.
"Good idea," Musk responded.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 23, 2020
In a video explaining his idea, Lee said that Musk himself has previously spoken about potentially creating such a company.
"Probably about four, five years ago, Elon has been quoted as having entertained the idea of a holding company," Lee said, although he didn't point to a source.
Lee added that creating a holding company would encourage more talented engineers to work for Musk's enterprises, as well as allowing the four companies to combine their HR and marketing departments and thus reduce the layers of bureaucracy, giving Musk more time to spend exploring new ventures.
The name would pay tribute to X.com, the online bank set up by Musk in 1999, which later merged with Confinity and then became PayPal. Musk already owns the domain name, Lee noted.
Read more: Winning the electric car race is just the beginning of Elon Musk's plan for Tesla
Earlier this month, Musk told Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner that he'd be open to talks to merge Tesla with a rival.
"We'd certainly have that conversation," he said.