Elon Musk loves a merger. Especially if it involves his own companies. First, he had his AI lab xAI join his space giant SpaceX to form one giant space exploration and AI development company. Now he wants to add autos and robots into the mix by merging SpaceX with Tesla.

Both Tesla and SpaceX have formed special committees to discuss a potential merger, Musk said at SpaceX’s third quarter earnings call on Tuesday.

“I’m a conflicted party; I can’t actually be in the discussions of the special committees,” Musk said, adding that he personally thinks it would be a good idea. But the merger is not yet a certainty, the former trillionaire told investors, as the committees have yet to reach an agreement on the terms, and even if they do, the deal would have to be approved by shareholders of both companies. Especially on the Tesla side, Musk said that a merger decision would require half of all shareholders’ approval, not just those who vote.

Musk has been teasing the possibility of a merger for months, but this is the first actual confirmation that the companies are taking action towards one. Yorkville Ives partner and senior managing director Dan Ives told Gizmodo that the merger is a matter of when, not if, and that his firm sees a more than 80% chance of it happening next year. Deepwater Asset Management managing partner Gene Munster shared a similar conviction via a post on X, claiming that there is a 95% chance that a merger takes place in the next two years.

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