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Musk's SpaceX Preparing to Launch Tender Offer in Dec at $135/share, FT Reports

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX and Tesla, attends the launch of SpaceX's Starlink internet service in Indonesia at a sub district community health center in Denpasar, Bali, May 19, 2024. (Reuters)
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX and Tesla, attends the launch of SpaceX's Starlink internet service in Indonesia at a sub district community health center in Denpasar, Bali, May 19, 2024. (Reuters)
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Musk's SpaceX Preparing to Launch Tender Offer in Dec at $135/share, FT Reports

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX and Tesla, attends the launch of SpaceX's Starlink internet service in Indonesia at a sub district community health center in Denpasar, Bali, May 19, 2024. (Reuters)
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX and Tesla, attends the launch of SpaceX's Starlink internet service in Indonesia at a sub district community health center in Denpasar, Bali, May 19, 2024. (Reuters)

Elon Musk's SpaceX is preparing to launch a tender offer in December to sell existing shares at a price of $135 per share, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the discussions.

The tender offer would value SpaceX at more than $250 billion, according to the report.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, according to Reuters.

Musk, the world's richest person, is expected to wield significant influence in Washington to secure favorable government treatment for his companies, including SpaceX, after Donald Trump's victory for a second presidency.

Musk's dream of transporting humans to Mars could also become a bigger national priority under Trump, Reuters reported earlier this month.

NASA's Artemis program, which aims to use SpaceX's Starship rocket to put humans on the moon as a proving ground for later Mars missions, is expected to focus more on the Red Planet under Trump and target uncrewed missions there this decade.

Under Trump, SpaceX is also expected to push for even softer regulations on worker safety and safety of participants in private space flights in orbit.

A Reuters investigation last year documented at least 600 worker injuries at SpaceX facilities across the US, and how SpaceX disregarded safety regulations and standard practices.

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Microsoft Pledges to Protect European Operations, Unveils Data Center Expansion

A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
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Microsoft Pledges to Protect European Operations, Unveils Data Center Expansion

A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)

Microsoft pledged Wednesday to fight any US government order to halt data center operations in Europe as it sought to soothe concerns among European customers that trans-Atlantic tensions would lead to service disruptions.

The company's president, Brad Smith, said it's not something that officials are talking about in Washington, D.C. but it is a “real concern” for Microsoft's customers across Europe, which include governments.

President Donald Trump has stoked tensions between the US and Europe with his tariff-fueled trade war, and alarmed European leaders with policy changes, including pausing intelligence sharing with Ukraine, that throw into doubt his administration's commitment to the trans-Atlantic relationship, The AP news reported.

Smith, speaking at an event in Brussels, tried to allay concerns as he announced that the company was expanding data center operations across Europe.

“What we want Europeans to know is that they can count on us,” he said in a speech.

“In the unlikely event we are ever ordered by any government anywhere in the world to suspend or cease cloud operations in Europe, we are committing that Microsoft will promptly and vigorously contest such a measure using all legal avenues available, including by pursuing litigation in court,” Smith wrote in a Wednesday blog post.

He noted that Microsoft has experience fighting lawsuits from the previous Trump administration as well as from former President Barack Obama’s administration.

“If we ever find ourselves losing we will put in place business continuity arrangements” that include storing computer code in Switzerland that European partners can access, he said.

Microsoft is making five digital commitments to Europe, including increasing its data center capacity by 40 in 16 countries over the next two years, Smith said. The expansion will cost tens of billions of dollars annually. Smith declined to be more specific about the cost when asked by reporters.

The expansion comes amid calls for Europe to assert tech and data sovereignty by weaning itself off reliance from big US cloud data service providers, including Microsoft, Amazon and, to a lesser extent, Google.

“Given recent geopolitical volatility, we recognize that European governments likely will consider additional options,” and Microsoft is committed to collaborating with European companies, Smith said.