Musk dismisses report of Tesla's potential China business sale
reuters.comAs the article explains, it's not completely up to Musk. China is the second largest market for Tesla, and Tesla's highest-volume car assembly plant is Gigafactory Shanghai in China (China is 30% of Tesla's total revenue).
If a Tesla-SpaceX merger is in the plans, China can prevent it unless Tesla gives up the Chinese market, half its size, and becomes a regional car manufacturer.
That's a rational analysis, but SpaceX is really in the rearranging deck chairs business. I keep seeing items in the business press that claim that SpaceX is an AI company, having merged with a second rate AI company that Elon outright said was a do-over.
Mercedes and BMW are finding out that the Chinese are pretty much done with foreign prestige brands. Elon will have to find someone willing to buy a falling knife.
Or he could buy a US mobile network operator. That almost sort of makes sense. Elon could slash the workforce and turn in a couple of years of good numbers before things fall apart.