Forget ‘TechnoKing’: Elon Musk will really be king at SpaceX

忘掉“技术之王”：埃隆·马斯克将成为 SpaceX 真正的国王

Elon Musk has incredible sway over the companies he leads. And while he already calls himself “TechnoKing” at Tesla, he is a real ruler over SpaceX, wielding an unprecedented level of control over one of the most valuable companies in the world. 埃隆·马斯克对他所领导的公司拥有令人难以置信的影响力。虽然他已经在特斯拉自称为“技术之王”（TechnoKing），但在 SpaceX，他是一位真正的统治者，对这家全球最有价值的公司之一行使着前所未有的控制权。

Musk’s monarchical grip on SpaceX was finally laid bare in the company’s IPO filing made public on Wednesday. Post-IPO, Musk will be CEO, CTO, and chairman of SpaceX’s board, and will have more than 50% of the voting power, giving him the ability to appoint directors as he sees fit. He essentially cannot be fired. 周三公开的 SpaceX IPO（首次公开募股）文件终于揭示了马斯克对该公司如君主般的掌控。IPO 之后，马斯克将担任 SpaceX 的首席执行官、首席技术官和董事会主席，并拥有超过 50% 的投票权，这使他能够随心所欲地任命董事。从本质上讲，他是不可能被解雇的。

The company has placed limits on how shareholders can file legal challenges, and it will benefit from a far more permissive regulatory regime in Texas, its home state – an environment Musk helped create when he loudly moved Tesla’s incorporation there from Delaware. As SpaceX bluntly tells prospective investors in the filing: “This will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters and the election of our directors.” 该公司对股东提起法律诉讼的方式设置了限制，并将受益于其总部所在地得克萨斯州更为宽松的监管制度——马斯克曾大张旗鼓地将特斯拉的注册地从特拉华州迁至得州，从而协助创造了这种环境。正如 SpaceX 在文件中直言不讳地告诉潜在投资者那样：“这将限制或排除你影响公司事务和董事选举的能力。”

More control than Mark

比扎克·伯格拥有更多控制权

Tech founders have enjoyed increased control over public companies over the last two decades, especially as Google, Meta (then Facebook) and other tech firms went public with dual-class shares. But Musk and SpaceX are taking things much further, according to Ann Lipton, professor of law at the University of Colorado. Lipton argued, in a blog published last Friday, that Musk is obliterating the three most powerful levers that shareholders can typically pull to pressure a public company’s top executive. 在过去二十年里，科技创始人对上市公司的控制权不断增强，尤其是随着谷歌、Meta（当时为 Facebook）和其他科技公司通过双重股权结构上市。但科罗拉多大学法学教授安·利普顿（Ann Lipton）认为，马斯克和 SpaceX 将这一趋势推向了极致。利普顿在上周五发表的一篇博客中指出，马斯克正在摧毁股东通常用来向上市公司高管施压的三大最强有力杠杆。

The first is voting. SpaceX uses a dual-class structure, with Musk holding 93.6% of the Class B super-voting shares that won’t be available to the public in the offering. Despite aiming to become the largest IPO in history, Musk will still hold more than 50% of the voting power once SpaceX lists. That makes it a “controlled company” by stock exchange standards, and controlled companies are allowed to exempt themselves from rules requiring independent oversight. 第一个杠杆是投票权。SpaceX 采用了双重股权结构，马斯克持有 93.6% 的 B 类超级投票权股票，这些股票在发行时不会向公众开放。尽管 SpaceX 旨在成为史上规模最大的 IPO，但上市后马斯克仍将持有超过 50% 的投票权。按照证券交易所的标准，这使其成为一家“受控公司”，而受控公司被允许豁免遵守要求独立监管的规则。

SpaceX states in its IPO filing that regular shareholders (who will own Class A shares) “will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq.” Crucially, Musk’s voting control means he will be able to decide anything requiring shareholder approval. That includes decisions such as mergers and acquisitions. If Musk eventually wants to somehow merge with or acquire Tesla, as many people have speculated, he won’t need to convince SpaceX shareholders. SpaceX 在 IPO 文件中声明，普通股东（持有 A 类股票）“将无法享有那些受纳斯达克所有公司治理要求约束的公司股东所拥有的同等保护”。至关重要的是，马斯克的投票控制权意味着他能够决定任何需要股东批准的事项，包括并购等决策。如果马斯克最终想要以某种方式合并或收购特斯拉（正如许多人所猜测的那样），他根本不需要说服 SpaceX 的股东。

Voting control is the biggest difference between Musk’s power at SpaceX versus Tesla. Musk only has around 20% voting control at Tesla and has had to put tremendous pressure on the company in recent years – including, at one point, threatening to leave altogether – to be granted more stock. (Tesla obliged last year by concocting a $1 trillion compensation package approved by shareholders.) 投票控制权是马斯克在 SpaceX 和特斯拉权力之间的最大区别。马斯克在特斯拉仅拥有约 20% 的投票控制权，近年来不得不对公司施加巨大压力——甚至一度威胁要彻底离开——以获得更多股票。（特斯拉去年通过制定一项由股东批准的 1 万亿美元薪酬方案满足了他的要求。）

A legal shield

法律盾牌

The second lever SpaceX is curtailing is the ability to sue. By incorporating in Texas, SpaceX has ensured shareholders can’t file what’s known as a “derivative suit” unless they own at least 3% of the company’s shares. (At the expected $1.75 trillion valuation, that would amount to a position worth roughly $52 billion.) Derivative suits occur when shareholders sue a company’s directors on behalf of the company itself – like when a small shareholder sued Tesla’s board over the $56 billion pay package awarded to Musk in 2018. SpaceX 正在削弱的第二个杠杆是起诉权。通过在得克萨斯州注册，SpaceX 确保了股东除非持有至少 3% 的公司股份，否则无法提起所谓的“派生诉讼”。（按预期的 1.75 万亿美元估值计算，这相当于价值约 520 亿美元的持仓。）派生诉讼是指股东代表公司本身起诉公司董事——例如，当一名小股东因 2018 年授予马斯克的 560 亿美元薪酬方案而起诉特斯拉董事会时，就是这种情况。

What’s more, SpaceX has included language in its bylaws, funneling most lawsuits to either the new Texas Business Court, which only started operating in 2024, or through mandatory arbitration. In other words, Lipton told TechCrunch: “Forget it, that’s it. There isn’t going to be a lawsuit” in most cases. This wasn’t the case prior to Musk ripping Tesla out of Delaware and moving it to Texas, she said. 此外，SpaceX 在其章程中加入了相关条款，将大多数诉讼引导至 2024 年才开始运作的得克萨斯州商业法院，或通过强制仲裁解决。换句话说，利普顿告诉 TechCrunch：“算了吧，就是这样。在大多数情况下，根本不会有诉讼。”她说，在马斯克将特斯拉从特拉华州迁至得克萨斯州之前，情况并非如此。

In fact, Lipton said that up until a few years ago, Delaware was increasingly scrutinizing the exact kind of controlled company SpaceX has become. “You could have the dual-class shares, and that would give you outsized voting power, but it also meant that you were subject to a greater amount of oversight by the Delaware court system,” she said. 事实上，利普顿表示，直到几年前，特拉华州还在加强对 SpaceX 这种受控公司的审查。“你可以拥有双重股权，这会给你带来超额的投票权，但也意味着你受到特拉华州法院系统更严格的监管，”她说。

Vote with your feet

用脚投票

The final lever of shareholder power that SpaceX has broken, Lipton argued, is the ability to sell shares and walk away. SpaceX has successfully lobbied the Nasdaq stock exchange to loosen rules governing how and when it adds companies to its Nasdaq 100 index – a group of large-cap companies that it bills as “fundamentally sound and innovative.” That process used to take months, but now it’s expected that SpaceX will be added to the list in a matter of weeks. 利普顿认为，SpaceX 破坏的最后一个股东权力杠杆是出售股票并离场的能力。SpaceX 已成功游说纳斯达克证券交易所放宽了将其纳入“纳斯达克 100 指数”的规则——该指数由一组被标榜为“基本面稳健且具有创新性”的大盘股公司组成。这一过程过去需要数月时间，但现在预计 SpaceX 将在几周内被列入该名单。

When companies are added to these indexes like the Nasdaq 100 or S&P 500, they become automatic buys for large financial institutions (like 401k providers). Therefore, Lipton argues SpaceX’s stock price will be buoyed in the early days of public trading by that impending inclusion, since traders will want to buy before institutional investors come in and drive the price up even higher. 当公司被纳入纳斯达克 100 指数或标普 500 指数等指数时，它们会自动成为大型金融机构（如 401k 养老金提供商）的买入对象。因此，利普顿认为，由于交易员希望在机构投资者入场并进一步推高股价之前买入，SpaceX 的股价在上市初期将受到这种即将被纳入指数的影响而得到支撑。

“Normally, if you can’t vote, and you can’t sue, you can at least sell and drive down the price, and that hurts,” Lipton said. “It hurts the controller [of the company], it hurts executives who are paid in stock. But now even that is being manipulated.” “通常情况下，如果你不能投票，也不能起诉，你至少可以卖出股票并压低价格，这会造成伤害，”利普顿说。“这会伤害公司的控制者，也会伤害那些以股票作为薪酬的高管。但现在，连这一点都被操纵了。”

Chan Ahn, a former executive at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, and the current CEO of tokenized private equity company Tessera, said he broadly agrees that rapid inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 could drive the price higher. But, he told TechCrunch, shareholders will still be able to “vote with their feet” and sell their stock – it just may not have the same impact. “You don’t have to buy, and if you have it, and if you don’t like it, you can sell,” he said. 曾任高盛和摩根大通高管、现任代币化私募股权公司 Tessera 首席执行官的陈安（Chan Ahn）表示，他基本同意快速纳入纳斯达克 100 指数可能会推高股价。但他告诉 TechCrunch，股东仍然可以“用脚投票”并卖出股票——只是这可能不会产生同样的影响。“你不必买入，如果你持有它，且不喜欢它，你就可以卖出，”他说。

All the money

所有的钱

On top of this control, Musk stands to make a historically anomalous amount of money from SpaceX going forward. Not only will the IPO likely make him the world’s first tr… 除了这种控制权之外，马斯克未来还将从 SpaceX 赚取数额惊人的财富。此次 IPO 不仅可能使他成为世界上第一位万亿……