Financial Times - The election that will shape Israel's identity - Investors laud Elon Musk's vision

Oct 22, 2026

Financial Times UK edition dated 22 October 2026 covers geopolitical and business developments. Coverage includes a US envoy meeting with Vladimir Putin and references to renewed peace talk timelines, alongside a major market story on investors praising Elon Musk’s plan to merge SpaceX and Tesla into an AI-focused conglomerate. Related pieces cite financial performance updates, regulatory scrutiny in the US and China, and deal risks despite investor enthusiasm.

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The election that will shape Israel's identity

US envoy and Putin meet

Musk's vision for SpaceX and Tesla combination welcomed by investors

Deal would put Musk $3.6tn entity oriented around AI

Serious hurdles remain

FINANCIALTIMES UK E370;Republic of lreland E4.10 THURSDAY 22 OCTOBER 2026 The election that will shape Israel's identity Adults in the room can’t restrain a bad leaderJANAN GANESH,PAGE 23 Summit talk USenvoy and Putin meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff,left,with Russia's President Vladimir Putinduring their meetingin Saint Petersburgyesterday. Witkoff and Putin discussed resum-ing peace talks with Ukraine in midNovember,as well as a possible leaders'summit between Putin,US PresidentDonald Trumpand China's Xi Jinpingatthe Apec forum in Shenzhen nextmonth,according to Russian officials. Insome of the photos of Witkoff,he isseen with handwritten notes that read,in part,"I feel momentum.Need tobuild on that"and“business deal". The Kremlin also said it released ajailed US citizen on humanitariangrounds.Stephen Hubbard,a retiredschoolteacher,had been detained formore than four years after being cap-tured by Russian forces in easternUkraine. Ukraine talks page4 # Musk's vision for SpaceXand Teslacombination welcomed by investors ◆Shares of both riseoPotential biggest deal everoAIfocus for $3.6tn groupoSerious hurdles remain yesterday's share price rises,the com-bined companies were worth about$500bn more than the day before,sug-gestingenthusiasm frominvestors. packagesto keephim focused on their hurdles,from shareholder concernsbusinesses,"said one large Tesla inves-over Musk's power to clearance fromtor."A mergercould resolve this."authorities in the USand China that areIf Musk puls off hs most audaciousset to scrutinise what would be the big-deal yet,the combined group would begest mergerofalltime.among the world's five most valuableMusk said there was “a lot of merit tocompanies alongside Nvidia,Apple,combining the companies as we areAlphabet and Microsoft.pretty much in the superintelligence gence software,chip design,the Tera-fab,robotics,mass to orbit with the[Starlink]constellation connectivity,”Musk said.He has previously rolled thesocial media platformXand his AI lab,XAI,intoSpacex. STEPHEN MORRIS-LONDON Investors in SpaceX and Tesla havelauded Elon Musk's vision of merginghis two companies to create asprawlingconglomerate spanning rockets,satel-lites,social media,robots and cars inwhat would be thelargest deal ever. Tesla has deepened its ties withSpaceXin recent years.In March,Muskannouncedajoint venture called Tera-fab,a massive semiconductor manufac-turing plant in Texas that will producechips for his autonomous vehicles,humanoid robots and orbital AI datacentres that could cost $119bn. SpaceX said on Tuesdaythat its reve-nue more than doubled in the thirdquarter,swinging it into profit for thefirst time since its listing in June,thelargest initialpublicofferingever. singularity",the point at which AI sur-passes human intelligence.But hewarned there was"no guarantee"thetwo committeeswould agree terms. The world's richest man said thereBut any combination faces seriouswas "a lotto be gained"from creating a- $3.6tn entity oriented around AI.Headded that special commitees at bothgroups were studying the potentialmega-merger,whichwas“agood idea”. Deal would Lex. Revenue surged 161 per cent to$14.6bnin thequarter,upfrom$5.6bnayear ago and beatinganalysts'estimatesfor $12.9bn.It posted net profit of put Musk "Do Ithink it would beagood idea?Yes.But at the end of the day the share-holders have to be supportive of this,"Musk said,adding that as chief execu-tive ofboth companieshe could not par-ticipate in the discussions., The two companies have also teamedup to produce a "flying"sports carcalled Roadster,unveiledlastweek,thatuses cold-gas thrusters developed bySpaceX.Musk's AI model Grok is pro-vided for freein many Teslavehicles. atopahuge Shares in SpaceX surged as much as10 per cent in early trading yesterdaywhile Tesla was upmore than 3percent. experiment $4.4bn,more than double expectationsof about S2bn,against a net loss of Constellationin

FAQs

What obstacles are highlighted regarding the proposed SpaceX-Tesla mega-merger?

The report emphasizes that serious hurdles remain, including potential scrutiny and the possibility that committees may not agree on terms despite interest described as a good idea.

Oct 22, 2026

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