Alexandra Merz Skips SpaceX IPO, Betting on Tesla Merger by H1 2027

Q: Why launch a record-breaking IPO if a merger with Tesla is just weeks away?

Because the merger is still speculative and, even in the bullish case, would take many months to complete, while SpaceX needs cash now. Merz’s view is an investor thesis, not a confirmed corporate plan. The reporting and market evidence point to merger talk as persistent speculation rather than a deal that is actually “weeks away.” Even if an announcement came soon, a Tesla-SpaceX combination would still require valuation work, board approvals, Tesla shareholder approval, and regulatory review, making a closing by 2027 more realistic than an immediate tie-up. The IPO solves immediate problems a merger would not. SpaceX has huge capital needs tied to Starship, Starlink expansion, and especially AI and orbital data-center ambitions. It raised about $75 billion at a valuation near $1.8 trillion after posting large losses and heavy capital spending. That money can fund operations and growth now, rather than waiting for a complex stock-for-stock transaction. A public listing also creates liquidity for employees and early backers and, crucially, establishes a transparent market price for SpaceX. That matters if Musk eventually wants to combine SpaceX, Tesla and xAI: a public valuation makes any future exchange ratio easier to defend. So the IPO is not necessarily inconsistent with merger speculation. It can be seen as a financing event and price-discovery exercise that strengthens SpaceX on its own and could also make any later merger easier to structure.

2 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Jun 12

Alexandra Merz said she passed on buying SpaceX IPO shares because she expects Elon Musk to announce a Tesla-SpaceX merger within weeks.
Merz, CEO of L&F Investor Services and a longtime Tesla investor, said buying into SpaceX would have required selling Tesla stock—something she refused to do.
Her thesis is to stay fully invested in Tesla and wait for a deal she believes would be completed in the first half of 2027.
The comments frame the SpaceX IPO not as a standalone opportunity for her, but as a potential prelude to a broader Musk-led combination of the two companies.