> ENGINEERED BY SPACEX

It would be very interesting to see some kind of diagram depicting all of the corporate entities Musk is involved in and how each entity does business with one another.

xAI just raised billions to help Tesla build out FSD (or at least that was part of the pitch).

His empire is divided into so many corporate entities, but they all cross-pollinate and are clearly under his direct control for the most part.

The closest comparison I can think of is Berkshire Hathaway (one person/group controlling multiple wide ranging private and public companies).

It's similar (ish), but I think unfortunately the comparison distracts from your core point and observation.

Musk Inc. is, in essence, a privet equity company. He raises a fund, and invests it along with his own cash into a business he knows well, and with which he believes he can disrupt the status quo.

He's very hands on, understanding all the important core details, setting culture, and pushing hard. But he also delegates to experts he brings in to run his businesses.

It's obviously not the same as PE, but there are distinct similarities. With each of his companies he clearly can't take an active role all the time, but what his team are experts at is identifying the areas he needs to be on top of, and they will quite literally fly him in for it. It seems to me it's always the start of something, be it a new company or project. He will be there 24/7 getting it off the ground, but then hand over to lieutenants to run.

It's a formula that seems to work again and again. We're (well those of you in the US) are in for an interesting time over the coming year as he has a new project to kick start.

While your overall question is valid, Starlink is simply a division of SpaceX. There's no "relationship" to consider. They are one and the same.

＞ His empire is divided into so many corporate entities, but they all cross-pollinate and are clearly under his direct control for the most part.

It's not unusual for large companies to have a large web of corporate entities, but what's problematic is that they have different ownership rather than the same owners/owned by each other. (I started to say that one is public and others private, but it would be the same issue if two were public, as they would obviously not have the exact same set of owners.)

When xAI makes a deal with Tesla, if xAI is getting the better end of the stick, that is a self-dealing problem that the SEC can investigate on behalf of Tesla shareholders. The assets of Tesla belong proportionally to its owners, so Musk or another large owner can't make deals that give their private company an advantage at the expense of Tesla owners.

If Tesla gets too generous of a deal, that's something the non-Musk owners of xAI if any could raise an issue with, but when the public company is allegedly getting shortchanged, the SEC gets involved too. Moreover, even if you are trying to do it right, there is always the opportunity for someone to challenge you.

> His empire is divided into so many corporate entities, but they all cross-pollinate and are clearly under his direct control for the most part.

My understanding is that, given Tesla is a public company, any collaboration between Tesla and other Musk companies needs to be approved by the board (or maybe by other C-suite executives) without Musk in the room. Musk can come up with the idea for a collaboration, but then the decision that it is in the best interests of Tesla and all its shareholders to proceed with the collaboration needs to be made independently of him.

By contrast, I don't think the rules apply as strictly to his other companies since they are privately held. The law cares a lot more about protecting shareholder rights in public companies than in private ones.

You're describing a corporate conglomerate, in style of pre-modern to early industrialization era.

Starlink is a wholly owned subsidiary of subsidiary of SpaceX.

Starlink has always been a SpaceX project.

I don't see what's confusing about it.

samsung family I think is the closest

In the context of OP, the corporate structure of SpaceX et al. is about as far from interesting as it could possibly get. The obsession some posters have with rich people (and Musk in particular) is really unhealthy!

Isn't the Tesla supercomputer completely separate from the xAI supercomputer?

Berkshire is very different, they are a hedge fund/holding company and their main business is trading companies.

Starlink and SpaceX have an even closer relationship than most other Musk companies; Starlink is a wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceX.