SpaceX and Tesla boards form special committees to review merger
SpaceX and Tesla boards form special committees to review merger
The boards of SpaceX and Tesla have each formed special committees to review a possible merger. The special committees, which consist of independent directors, were created at the request of shareholders, according to Elon Musk, CEO and the largest individual shareholder of both companies.
SpaceX 和 Tesla 的董事会已各自成立特别委员会，以评估合并的可能性。据两家公司的首席执行官兼最大个人股东埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）称，这些由独立董事组成的特别委员会是应股东要求成立的。
“Because I’m a conflicted party, I can’t actually be in the discussions of the special committees, so it’s this sort of a … it’s an odd kabuki dance where two groups of people are talking, and I can’t be in the conversation,” Musk said in response to a question during SpaceX’s third-quarter earnings call. Musk didn’t name the members of these special committees, only noting that they were independent directors.
“由于我是利益冲突方，我实际上无法参与特别委员会的讨论，所以这是一种……这是一种奇怪的歌舞伎表演，两组人在交谈，而我却无法参与其中，”马斯克在 SpaceX 第三季度财报电话会议上回答提问时说道。马斯克没有透露这些特别委员会成员的姓名，仅指出他们是独立董事。
Tesla has seven independent board members under Nasdaq’s listing standards, including board chair Robyn Denholm, Ira Ehrenpreis, who is also a committee chair, former Tesla CTO JB Straubel, Joe Gebbia, Jack Hartung, James Murdoch, and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, according to the company’s October 19 proxy filing. Neither Musk, nor his brother Kimbal Musk, are independent. Denholm, Gebbia, Ehrenpreis, Hartung, Murdoch, and Wilson-Thompson sit on a variety of established committees overseeing audit, compensation, and corporate governance.
根据该公司 10 月 19 日提交的代理声明，按照纳斯达克上市标准，Tesla 拥有七名独立董事会成员，包括董事会主席 Robyn Denholm、同时担任委员会主席的 Ira Ehrenpreis、前 Tesla 首席技术官 JB Straubel、Joe Gebbia、Jack Hartung、James Murdoch 和 Kathleen Wilson-Thompson。马斯克及其兄弟金巴尔·马斯克（Kimbal Musk）均不属于独立董事。Denholm、Gebbia、Ehrenpreis、Hartung、Murdoch 和 Wilson-Thompson 在多个负责审计、薪酬和公司治理的既定委员会中任职。
SpaceX lists six independent directors, including Ehrenpreis, who is also the chair of the company’s compensation and nominating committee. Randy Glein, Donald Harrison, Steve Jurvetson, Luke Nosek, and Roelef Boutha are also considered independent directors. Antonio Garcias, Musk, and SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell are also on the board, but not considered independent.
SpaceX 列出了六名独立董事，其中包括同时担任该公司薪酬与提名委员会主席的 Ehrenpreis。Randy Glein、Donald Harrison、Steve Jurvetson、Luke Nosek 和 Roelef Boutha 也被视为独立董事。Antonio Garcias、马斯克以及 SpaceX 总裁兼首席运营官 Gwynne Shotwell 也在董事会中，但不被视为独立董事。
Garcias, who once sat on Tesla’s board, founded and leads Valor Equity Partners, which has a 3.4% stake in SpaceX. Garcias’ firm also financed SpaceX’s AI hardware purchases through leaseback arrangements. Musk said he supports the idea of the merger, but cautioned that it is not a guaranteed outcome.
曾任 Tesla 董事的 Garcias 创立并领导着 Valor Equity Partners，该公司持有 SpaceX 3.4% 的股份。Garcias 的公司还通过售后回租安排为 SpaceX 的人工智能硬件采购提供了融资。马斯克表示他支持合并的想法，但提醒说这并非必然的结果。
“I think some people out there assume that a SpaceX and Tesla Motor is a certainty, and I think that would be overstating it,” he said, adding that he thinks it would be a good idea. “At the end of the day, the shareholders have to be supportive of this.” The special committees have not reached agreement on the terms of any transactions, he said.
“我认为有些人认为 SpaceX 和 Tesla 的合并是板上钉钉的事，我觉得这种说法言过其实了，”他说道，并补充称他认为这是一个好主意。“归根结底，股东们必须支持这一点。”他表示，特别委员会尚未就任何交易条款达成一致。
The SpaceX IPO cemented Musk’s grip on the company — he has more than 50% voting power — which would make it easier to garner support for a merger from SpaceX shareholders. It is a much bigger hurdle over at Tesla, where the company would need a 50% vote from all shareholders, not just those who vote, Musk noted.
SpaceX 的首次公开募股（IPO）巩固了马斯克对公司的控制权——他拥有超过 50% 的投票权——这将使他更容易获得 SpaceX 股东对合并的支持。马斯克指出，在 Tesla 那边障碍要大得多，因为该公司需要获得所有股东（而不仅仅是参与投票的股东）50% 的投票支持。
“I do think there’s a lot of merit to combining the companies as we are pretty much in the superintelligence singularity,” Musk said, adding there was a lot to be gaining from cooperating on developing AI software, robotics, SpaceX’s orbital AI data center project Starmind, and Terafab, the joint chip manufacturing project between Tesla and SpaceX.
“我确实认为合并这两家公司有很多优点，因为我们几乎处于超级智能奇点之中，”马斯克说，并补充道，在开发人工智能软件、机器人技术、SpaceX 的轨道人工智能数据中心项目 Starmind 以及 Tesla 与 SpaceX 的联合芯片制造项目 Terafab 方面的合作将带来巨大收益。