Tesla/SpaceX merger, there are opinions like "Since they're both American companies, no approval from major countries is needed," but I see that as a complacent thought. 1. Even if SpaceX claims it's not a defense company itself, a company that launches rockets and deploys satellites has no choice but to be viewed as a defense/security firm from the perspective of various governments. 2. Starlink is already integrated into war zones and national communication networks, and it has contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence agencies. 3. On the other hand, Tesla operates worldwide, with a Shanghai factory and significant revenue in China. 4. In countries where revenue exceeds a certain scale, merger approval is required regardless of nationality. Even for U.S. companies, this is why approval from China/EU etc. is needed. 5. From China's perspective, it's a U.S. defense company merging with a firm that has a domestic factory and vehicle data. This gives them grounds to block it on security grounds. 6. The U.S. would also find it hard to just let a core defense company merge with one that has a major production base in China. ※ Precedents of major M&A deals blocked by major countries' approvals [Blocked on national security grounds] 1. Broadcom→Qualcomm (2017, ~$117B): Blocked by U.S. presidential order 2. Canyon Bridge (Chinese-backed)→Lattice (2016, $1.3B): Blocked by U.S. presidential order [China's SAMR refused approval and held firm] 3. Qualcomm→NXP (2016, $44B): Abandoned after 21 months, $2B breakup fee 4. Intel→Tower (2022, $5.4B): Abandoned after 18 months, $353M breakup fee 5. Nvidia→ARM (2020, $40B): Abandoned after 17 months due to opposition from U.S./UK/EU/China, $1.25B lost [Blocked by U.S. FTC/DOJ] 6. Applied Materials–Tokyo Electron (2013, $29B): Abandoned after 19 months 7. Lockheed→Northrop (1997, $11.6B): Abandoned over defense competition restrictions 8. Lockheed→Aerojet Rocketdyne (2020, $4.4B): Abandoned over vertical integration in missile propulsion 9. AT&T→T-Mobile (2011, $39B): $4B breakup fee 10. Kroger→Albertsons (2022, $24.6B): Fell through, now in $9B+ lawsuit 11. JetBlue→Spirit (2022, $3.8B): Abandoned, followed by Spirit's bankruptcy protection 12. Penguin Random House→Simon & Schuster (2020, $2.175B): $200M breakup fee [Blocked by EU/UK] 13. GE→Honeywell (2000, ~$42B): EU blocked it despite U.S. approval 14. Boeing→Embraer (2018, $4.2B): Canceled amid EU review delays 15. Siemens–Alstom (2017): Blocked by EU 16. Hyundai Heavy Industries→Daewoo Shipbuilding (2019, ~$2B): EU blocked after 3 years 17. Adobe→Figma (2022, $20B): $1B breakup fee 18. Amazon→iRobot (2022, $1.7B): Abandoned due to EU opposition 19. Illumina→GRAIL (2020, ~$7.1B): Pushed through but ultimately divested, CEO resigned Cases that were blocked but revived: MS→Activision passed after restructuring, and Japan Steel→U.S. Steel passed with U.S. government golden share condition. Most fall through after 9–26 months. Meanwhile, the companies are tied up in uncertainty. ※ Unlike these cases, reasons why failure would be especially fatal for Elon 1. In the above cases, they were deals between unrelated third-party companies, so failure ends with "blame the regulations." 2. Tesla/SpaceX is a same controlling shareholder transaction where Elon dominates both sides. If it fails, the arrows won't point to regulations but to "Why did he push so hard between his own companies?" 3. From Tesla shareholders' perspective, it becomes a conflict of interest issue of whether Elon used Tesla resources for his other company. This creates grounds for breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits. 4. During the SolarCity acquisition (2016), shareholders sued Elon and ultimately won, but it tied him up in litigation for nearly 7 years.