Elon Musk Dismisses Proposal for Tesla to Acquire xAI

Elon Musk has publicly rejected the idea of merging Tesla with his artificial intelligence startup xAI, following a suggestion from prominent Tesla advocate and Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, Axios reports.

In a brief response on social media platform X, Musk replied to Ives’ merger pitch with a terse message:

“Shut up, Dan.”

Ives had floated the concept earlier on Tuesday, arguing that combining Tesla and xAI could create a powerful challenger to AI leaders like OpenAI, Meta, and Microsoft. He suggested such a move would consolidate two of Musk’s most influential ventures and position the combined company at the forefront of AI development by leveraging Tesla’s vast data and xAI’s research capabilities.

To make it feasible, Ives proposed that Musk would first need to secure 25% voting control of Tesla and agree to conditions on his political activity and the amount of time he dedicates to Tesla operations. He also estimated that between $15 billion and $20 billion in additional capital would be needed to buffer Tesla’s financials from xAI’s high cash demands.

“Adding Tesla’s data to xAI would create a formidable AI play,” Ives told Axios, framing the potential merger as an opportunity for Tesla to take a leading role in AI rather than playing catch-up.

Despite the ambitious nature of the idea, Musk’s one-line dismissal reflects his apparent disinterest in such a corporate restructuring. The response also aligns with Musk’s general skepticism of public markets—a sentiment underscored by his decision to take Twitter (now X) private and his past efforts to take Tesla private.