The news bounced on international agencies such as lightning in peaceful sky: Elonmusk, former founder of Spacex, Tesla and Neuralink, signed a binding agreement to acquire Boeing in a cash – & – stock transaction assessed over 190 million dollars. For the first time in the modern history of aviation, a single entrepreneurial figure will control both the largest manufacturer of commercial aircraft in the world and the private company protagonist of space launches in recent years. The result? An earthquake that has shaken from Nasdaq to the tables of the ministries of the Defense of Middle Globe.
According to internal sources of Wall Street, the operation was prepared in absolute secrecy with the support of a pool of global banks and some Middle Eastern sovereign funds, ready to bet on Musk’s vision to “integrate heaven, orbit and – day – mare under the same flag”. Cash payment would cover about 55% of the final value, while the rest would be adjusted with actions of a new holding temporarily baptized X -Aerospace Group.
The reactions did not wait. Airbus, Boeing’s main rival, defined the announcement “unprecedented and potentially distorting for world competition”. The European Commissioner for Competition has already convened an emergency committee to evaluate the impact on the entire aerospace supply chain of the continent. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Pentagon has released a tightened press release: “We will carefully examine the national security implications of such a consolidation”.
Meanwhile, financial markets oscillate between euphoria and fear. Boeing shares, after an initial 42%leap, were suspended due to excess volatility; The Spacex shares, still unlisted but exchanged on private markets, recorded record offers of over 1000 dollars per action. Some analysts express enthusiasm: the vertical integration between the production of commercial aircraft, satellites and rockets could drastically reduce costs and accelerate the race for deep space. Others, more cautious, speak of “aerospace monopoly risk” and a concentration of power that no antitrust regulation has ever imagined.
Not even the unions remain silent. The internectionalasociationofi Machinists & Aerospace Worlds fears massive cuts and automoting pushed: “Musk has already shown with Tesla not to hesitate in front of the robots. What happened to dozens of thousands of workers?” From Seattle, the historical seat of the company, up to the plants of Charleston and St. Louis, extraordinary assemblies are announced.
Musk, as per the script, chose X (Extutter) to claim the move with a lapidary message: “forward, towards the stars – and with anyone who wants to build them”. Immediately after, he promised a joint press conference within two weeks, in which he will illustrate the “unique roadmap in the world” which will found new generation production lines of planes with reusable starships.
In the meantime, the scientific community observes with curiosity mixed with concern: will this be the era of a megacongyrate capable of launching satellites, transporting overseas passengers to zero emissions and, at the same time, send cargo to Mars? One certainty: today’s announcement redesigns the map of aerospace power and opens scenarios that, until yesterday, belong more to science fiction than to the business plan of international boarding.
