(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Reading between the lines on the latest SpaceX merger report and Musk’s cryptic tweet

There are a few things to note in and around Bloomberg’s report that SpaceX and xAI are in advanced deal talks.

Bloomberg reported this morning that SpaceX was in “advanced talks” with xAI about a merger. That might sound similar to some of the eye-popping stories we all read just a few days ago, but there are some new nuances here that are worth paying attention to.

Chiefly, Bloomberg’s report today says that the companies “may announce an agreement as soon as this week,” though the story also includes typical M&A shoptalk language that negotiations are ongoing and could drag on or fall apart. Things can always fall apart for a number of reasons, which is why you see a similar line in pretty much every M&A story from any respectable news outlet. But this story is a pretty good indication that in-the-know people are telling Bloomberg reporters that SpaceX and xAI are very close to a deal.

(And why wouldn’t they be? I assume this negotiation is just Elon Musk looking in a mirror and negotiating with himself in two different voices.)

Another thing to pay attention to around this report: Musk himself replied “Yes” to someone’s post on X that linked to the Bloomberg story and indicated that a merger between the two companies would mean “Explore the Universe 🤝 Understand the Universe.” That’s not a confirmation, but it’s certainly not a denial, which is something Musk frequently does with reporting he doesn’t like.

Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2026

The third thing I’d be paying close attention to with regard to this report is that Bloomberg was the news outlet that originally reported Tesla might be involved in merger talks with xAI. But this latest article doesn’t mention Tesla as part of the tie-up — in fact, its only mention of Tesla in the talks is to say in the last paragraph that SpaceX “has also discussed the feasibility of a tie-up with Musk’s Tesla Inc., Bloomberg News has reported.”

Of course that doesn’t rule Tesla out, but it’s interesting that in a story that definitely seems to move deal progress forward, Tesla’s not mentioned near the top.

Jon Keegan4h

Analyst: Investors should brace for Europe’s breakup with US Big Tech

The signs are there: the French government has restricted the use of Zoom for its employees. In Germany, the state of Schleswig-Holstein is ending the use of Microsoft Teams among its workers.

As US-EU tensions rise, Europe is looking to secure its own “digital sovereignty,” reduce its dependence on US-owned technology platforms, and grow its domestic tech industry. It now seems the European breakup with Big Tech is underway.

Tuttle Capital Management CEO Matthew Tuttle thinks that most investors aren’t paying enough attention to this growing problem for the American tech sector’s stocks.

In a note to investors, Tuttle wrote:

“The world is building optionality away from U.S. policy and platform dependence. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it — because it’s showing up in procurement decisions, supply chains, defense budgets, and capital flows.”

Europe wants to break up with US tech. Here’s how it plans on doing that.

Tuttle Capital Management CEO Matthew Tuttle thinks that most investors aren’t paying enough attention to this growing problem for the American tech sector’s stocks.

In a note to investors, Tuttle wrote:

“The world is building optionality away from U.S. policy and platform dependence. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it — because it’s showing up in procurement decisions, supply chains, defense budgets, and capital flows.”

$110B

Rani Molla5h

Waymo is seeking to raise $16 billion in a funding round that would value the autonomous car company at nearly $110 billion, Bloomberg reports. That’s higher than earlier Bloomberg estimates for the round and more than double Waymo’s 2024 valuation.

Parent company Google is leading the financing, expected to close in February, by making a $13 billion commitment that would account for a huge chunk of the round.

Rani Molla6h

China outlaws door handles Tesla is famous for

A new Chinese safety rule will require every vehicle sold in the country to have mechanically operable external and internal door handles that work even without power by 2027. The move would effectively ban the flush, motor-activated door handles Tesla is famous for, and that other EV makers like Xiaomi, Lucid, and Rivian have also adopted. Tesla is already facing scrutiny over its door designs in the US, where regulators have investigated crashes in which passengers struggled to exit vehicles after power failures.

China Bans Hidden Car Door Handles in World-First Safety Policy

Rani Molla7h

Tesla’s Europe sales get big headlines — but they’re a small part of the business

Another month, another round of headlines about Tesla’s sales in Europe — a market small enough that the company doesn’t even break out its revenue separately in filings.

The monthly headline bonanza around Tesla’s European sales has to do with the fact that, unlike in the US, there is readily available data on vehicle registrations there. But the availability of those headlines tends to overstate Europe’s importance to Tesla’s overall vehicle business.

In 2025, Tesla sold 238,656 vehicles across the Europe, down 27% from 2024. That represents less than 15% of Tesla’s total global vehicle sales. Early data from several European countries paints a mixed picture at the start of 2026 — declines in France and Norway, increases in Spain and Sweden — but in absolute terms, those markets remain relatively small for Tesla.

By comparison, the US is a much larger and more important market for Tesla, accounting for about 35% of unit sales last year, according to estimates from analyst Troy Teslike, and roughly half of the company’s revenue in 2025. Crucially, vehicle sales are declining there, too.