Elon Musk said that combining SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and Boring under a megacorporation called 'X' would be a 'good idea'

• Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday that he thinks it would be a "good idea" to bring his four businesses — Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and the Boring Company — under a giant holding company.
• Dave Lee, a YouTuber and Tesla investor, suggested the idea. He said the holding company could be called "X" and would make it easier for Musk to manage his ventures and start new ones.
• "X could become the most significant enterprise in human history," Lee said.
• "Good idea," Musk replied.

Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday that he thinks that combining his four businesses under a giant holding company called "X" is a "good idea."

Musk owns or partly owns the electric-car maker Tesla, the aerospace giant SpaceX, the neurotech company Neuralink, and the transport-tunnel maker Boring Company. Only Tesla is publicly traded.

Dave Lee, a YouTuber and Tesla investor, tweeted at Musk with the idea. The holding company would make it easier for Musk to manage his ventures and start new ones, Lee said.

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X would become the parent company of Musk's four businesses, and its mission would be "to ensure human survival and progress," Lee said.

"X could become the most significant enterprise in human history," Lee added.

The purpose of the holding company wouldn't be to increase the market capitalization or stock price of Musk's firms, but to enable him "to continue to make big bets for humanity, and have the time to manage them," Lee said.

"Good idea," Musk responded.

—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 23, 2020

In a video explaining his idea, Lee said that Musk had previously spoken about creating such a company.

"Probably about four, five years ago, Elon has been quoted as having entertained the idea of a holding company," Lee said, though he didn't point to a source.

Lee said that creating a holding company would encourage more talented engineers to work for Musk's enterprises. It would also allow the four companies to combine their human-resources and marketing departments and thus reduce the layers of bureaucracy, giving Musk more time to spend exploring new ventures, Lee added.

The name would pay tribute to X.com, the online bank that Musk set up in 1999 that later merged with Confinity and then became PayPal. Lee noted that Musk already owns the domain name.

Read more: Winning the electric car race is just the beginning of Elon Musk's plan for Tesla

Earlier this month, Musk told Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner that he'd be open to talks to merge Tesla with a rival.

"We'd certainly have that conversation," he said.