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Two of Elon Musks best-known companies look likely to be headed for a mega merger ahead of a mooted IPO. SpaceX, the South African entrepreneurs space exploration firm, and xAI, the AI company he established in 2023 to challenge OpenAI, are reportedly in discussions ahead of a merger and initial public offerings. Two business entities were established in Nevada on January 21, Reuters says, that are potentially designed to facilitate the deal. Combined, the two businesses are worth more than $1 trillion. Tesla, Bloomberg reports, could be involved as well. The IPO could happen in mid-June. Why mid-June? Because that’s a point when Jupiter and Venus will be in conjunction with one another, passing close to each other in their respective orbits, the Financial Times separately reported. June also happens to be Musks birth month; hell be 55 years old on June 28. Its suggested that the merged entity would be looking to raise up to $50 billion, nearly twice the amount of the largest IPO in history to datewhen Saudi Aramcos 2019 raise of $29 billionand would be doing so at a valuation of $1.5 trillion. None of the companies in question immediately responded to requests for comment. Such a merger is big news, in part because of Musks name and infamy, but also because it represents the pooling of two firms that appear at first not to be connected. But there are business synergies that make sense, says Caleb Henry, director of research at Quilty Space. I view the merger as Musks way to vertically integrate AI services by providing xAI with satellite infrastructure for on-orbit compute, he says. Musk has previously saidlike a number of others in the tech worldthat building data centers in space will be an important part of ensuring that were able to meet the compute demands of the current and ongoing AI revolution, in which Musks xAI is playing a large role through its Grok chatbot. Getting those data centers into space, if it ever happens, would need the rockets that SpaceX has become specialized in: Research company Payload Space estimates that SpaceX made $15 billion in revenue last year, around one-third of which was from launches. (The remainder was from its Starlink satellite internet service.) The viability of orbital data centers remains a subject of debate, but Musk is a firm believer that they are the future, acknowledges Henry. With that conviction in mind, it makes sense for him to merge SpaceX and xAI. Doing so would help Musk avoid the headache of having to arrange, pay for, and plan out capacity on Earthsomething xAI is already in trouble about, after the Environmental Protection Agency recently ruled that the AI companys Colossus data center generated more electricity than was legally permitted. Rather than having xAI pay for data centers on the ground, SpaceX can host them in orbit on the Starlink satellite constellation. xAI could get cost savings by vertically integrating with orbital data centers, similar to how Starlink saves on launch costs by being part of SpaceX, says Henry. Not everyone is as convinced of the business case, however. It shows Elon Musk is good at raising money on whatever the theme is at the moment, acknowledges E.W. Niedermeyer, author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, and an auto industry analyst. Niedermeyer believes that the mooted move is more about puffing up both Musks companies in the eyes of the public. It’s a classic Elon Musk move in the sense that I was both totally shocked by it, and then almost immediately, not at all shocked, he says. Niedermeyer believes the merger helps both companies support one another, and potentially access more cash from a public offering, that will keep them both going. We know very little about their actual economics, because they’re privately held companies, he says. But what we do know is not wildly encouraging, pointing to the fact that both repeatedly raise cash from investors, suggesting theyre not able to fund their own growth. It looks like Elon Musk has one window to do a big IPO, and he wants to make the most of that, says Niedermeyer. Part of the problem is that xAIs cash burn is likely to be significant because of the demand for AI products like Grokan issue that Musks AI company isnt alone in feeling, Niedermeyer admits. On the space exploration side, Niedermeyer says that the Falcon 9 and Starship initiatives are literal moonshot projects that take a lot of cash. Thats what makes it so surprising that SpaceX could go public: Musk has previously said in 2013 that SpaceX had to remain private in order to maintain its overall mission. I see this as a way to keep things rolling along, says Niedermeyer. But it also runs the risk of alienating some of Musks most ardent fans, he warns. Ive already seen evidence in forums that the IPO plan has been really toxic to some of the most committed parts of his fanbase, Niedermeyer says. I just see this as being sort of the last big cash-in and I genuinely don’t know where he goes from here.
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Microsoft stock just suffered its biggest single day drop since 2020. Meanwhile, Meta stock popped by 10%. Both tech giants are spending billions on AI talent and infrastructure, but investors clearly feel skittish about Microsoft at the start of 2026 and bullish on Metas tale of near-term upside. For a company that famously whiffed on the metaverse, Meta is looking more reasonable these days. The company is still poised to invest eye-popping sums into artificial intelligence in the coming years, but so are all of its peers, Microsoft included. In an era of AI hype and sky-high expectations, Meta is following the crowdnot leading itfor better or worse. In 2026, the company is building a grounded narrative around its strong revenue growth. Meta is an advertising company through and through and in 2026 its emphasizing that core competency while pointing to strong revenue growth backing up the story. Meta reported $59.89 billion in revenue in the last quarter, beating Wall Streets by over $1 billion. The company said more people are using its wide family of social apps, with 7% daily active user growth year over year across its products. Mark Zuckerberg still took some time in Wednesdays earnings call to declare that he cant imagine a world where most glasses that people wear aren’t AI glasses within the next few years, but at least he didnt lead with the companys latest cash-burning consumer hardware bet. Metas AI spending green light The Menlo Park tech giants investment in AI is only growing. In 2026, Meta expects to splash out between $115 billion and $135 billion in capital expenditures, way up from the $72.22 billion it spent across 2025. Meta says that increase will largely be driven by upped investment into Meta Superintelligence Labs, its AI division. Were in this interesting period where weve been rebuilding our AI effort, and were six months into that, and Im happy with how its going, Zuckerberg said. Meta is bullish on its near future revenue too. The company is expecting to bring in between $53.5 to $56.5 billion in its next quarter. On its earnings call, executives highlighted how weaving AI into its existing products is explicitly boosting its ad business. There are several major business opportunities that were focused on one is just going to be improving the core products and accelerating the current business, Zuckerberg said, noting that Metas products are already benefitting from AI integration into their recommendation engines. The company says that advertisers are responding to ad performance improvements already and those successes are driving conversion growth and revenue. Investors took note, the stock popped and the companys narrative about where all that AI spend will go seems to make sense to the market, at least for now. Microsofts story is complicated Investors seem to appreciate that Meta is eating its vegetables and bolstering its ad business these days, but Microsoft is a different story. Microsoft, once the boring PC company, is on the cutting edge of the AI boom. The company handily beat expectations in its own earnings report this week, notching $81.3 billion in quarterly revenue a 16% year over year increase. Its net income bested expectations too. So what went wrong? If investors are worried about being over indexed on Microsoft, Microsoft may be worried about being in too deep with OpenAI. The tech stalwarts AI bets are complex due to being bound up with OpenAI, which the larger company has invested more than $11 billion into to date. Microsofts latest earnings were buoyed by OpenAIs transformation into a more traditional for-profit company, which Microsoft will own a 27% stake in, valued at $135 billion. That investment delivered Microsoft $7.6 billion in net income in the last quarter. Microsoft increasingly competes with its longtime partner, but remains worryingly dependent on it at the same time. The company is holding onto an astronomical $625 billion backlog in pent up demand for its cloud computing business, but just disclosed that OpenAI accounts for 45% of those outstanding cloud contracts. If OpenAI stumbles, Microsoft does too. Microsoft may be powering the AI revolution, but, until solved, its capacity woes put an awkward cap on the revenue that business can bring in. To fix the problem, the company is feeding its voracious appetite for cloud computing capacity but all of that spending may start to rattle investors. Microsoft shelled out $37.5 billion in capital expenditures in the last quarter, a figure that includes AI infrastructure investment like data centers. Meanwhile, its Azure cloud business grew 39% in the quarter, beating expectations but staying flat from last quarters growth. In the companys earnings report, CEO Satya Nadella argued that Microsoft is well-positioned in the beginning phases of AI adoption. We are pushing the frontier across our entire AI stack to drive new value for our customers and partners, Nadella said. AIs major players are set to sink more cash than ever into the technology this year. But after a few years of AI-driven sugar highs, the industry may finally be tempered by investors eager for an endgame.
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Sunday’s Grammys mark a return to normalcy after the 2025 show was altered to focus on Los Angeles-area wildfire relief efforts. I think we will see some history-making moments, Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason jr. told The Associated Press. With artists being nominated in categories they haven’t been previously nominated in, and a new crop of talent coming through the system this year I think we’re going to see some really exciting results. Heres what you need to know about the 2026 Grammys, including how to stream and where you can see musics biggest stars walking the red carpet. How do I watch the Grammys? The main show will air live from LA’s Crypto.com Arena on CBS beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. Paramount+ premium plan subscribers will be able to stream the telecast live, too. (Paramount+ essential subscribers will have on-demand access the next day.) The Grammys can also be watched through live TV streaming services that include CBS in their lineup, like Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and FuboTV. The Premiere Ceremony will take place ahead of the Grammys telecast, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern from the Peacock Theater. It can be streamed at the Recording Academys YouTube channel and on live.GRAMMY.com. Who is performing at the Grammys? The show will feature a special segment in which all eight of this year’s best new artist nominees will perform. That means Leon Thomas, Olivia Dean, global girl group Katseye, The Marías, Addison Rae, sombr, Alex Warren, and Lola Young will all share the stage before going head-to-head for one of the night’s biggest prizes. Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, Clipse, and Pharrell Williams will also perform. Reba McEntire, Brandy Clark and Lukas Nelson will take the stage for the in memoriam. Ms. Lauryn Hill will pay tribute to DAngelo and Roberta Flack. Post Malone, Andrew Watt, Chad Smith, Duff McKagan and Slash will honor Ozzy Osbourne. Who is presenting at the Grammys? Doechii and Harry Styles are the first confirmed presenters. Who is hosting the Grammys? Comedian Trevor Noah will host the show for the sixth consecutive time and it will be his last. I am beyond thrilled to welcome Trevor Noah back to host the Grammys for his sixth, and sadly, final time, Grammys’ executive producer Ben Winston said in a statement. Hes been the most phenomenal host of the show. Hes so smart, so funny, and such a true fan of the artists and music. His impact on the show has been truly spectacular, and we cant wait to do it together one last time. The only other people to host six or more Grammy telecasts were musical artists: Andy Williams hosted seven shows, followed by John Denver with six. Noah previously tied LL Cool J, with five. Noah himself is a four-time Grammy nominee and is up this year in the audio book, narration, and storytelling recording category for Into The Uncut Grass, a childrens story. He’s a special host. He really finds the right balance between being funny and smart and knowledgeable but also being a fan of music. And I love that. Its so hard to find that combination, Mason jr. said. As for his departure? Every person at some point in their career, they decide they want to do something else, Mason jr. said. And were so appreciative of the years that we got from Trevor. Hes really helped define the show and make the show what its become over the last six years. How can I watch the red carpet? The Associated Press will stream a four-hour red carpet show with interviews and fashion footage. It will be streamed on YouTube and APNews.com. Who is nominated for the Grammys? Kendrick Lamar leads the nominations with nine total. He’s up for record, song and album of the year marking the third time hes had simultaneous nominations in those big categories as well as pop duo/group performance, melodic rap performance, rap song and rap album. Hes also nominated twice in the rap performance category. Lady Gaga, Jack Antonoff and Canadian record producer/songwriter Cirkut follow Lamar with seven nominations each. Thomas, Bad Bunny, Serban Ghenea and the aforementioned Carpenter all boast six nominations. Andrew Watt, Clipse, Doechii, Sounwave, SZA, Turnstile and Tyler, the Creator have five each. There are a number of first-time nominees as well this year, including Tate McRae, Zara Larsson, PinkPantheress, JID and Timothée Chalamet. You read that correctly. ___ For more coverage of this years Grammy Awards, visit: www.apnews.com/hub/grammy-awards Maria Sherman, AP music writer
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