Tesla is expected to unveil its Roadster tonight, potentially featuring SpaceX-designed thrusters that could literally lift the car off the ground.

• A much bigger Tesla-SpaceX tie-up — the long-speculated merger of Elon Musk's two companies — could come as soon as this fall, say analysts at Barclays.

⛓️‍💥 The big picture: Musk's business empire is becoming increasingly interconnected, raising the prospect of a combination that would consolidate his control over two of the world's most valuable companies, while allowing both to move faster on big AI projects.

🧩 Zoom in: The Barclays analysts, led by Dan Levy, view AI as a central driver of a potential deal.

• A merger would vertically integrate both companies' AI platforms, including Tesla's physical robotaxis and humanoid robots, with SpaceX's AI models and software, they wrote in a report yesterday.
• And a combined company would simplify governance of Terafab, Musk's planned massive chip manufacturing project that he sees as central to powering both companies' enormous computing needs for years to come.

🗓️ The intrigue: The analysts see two possible timing considerations for a potential deal.

• In one scenario, an announcement could come in time to include merger approval as part of Tesla's annual shareholder meeting, which could land no later than Dec. 6. To meet that goal, a merger announcement would have to come by late October or early November at the latest.
• If a deal were to be announced later, the analysts expect it to come within six to 12 months — aiming to close the transaction during the Trump administration, with its relatively friendlier regulators.

🗳️ Between the lines: Musk has long talked about having enough voting control to give him sufficient influence over Tesla's AI and robotics strategy. He has that control at SpaceX.

• The Barclays analysts say a deal would give Musk around 37% of a combined Tesla/SpaceX and 56% of the voting power, depending on the deal structure and valuations.

What we're watching: Despite the potential benefits, shareholders would still need to approve the deal, which carries plenty of downside risks too.

The Colonel is delivering a blow to PepsiCo, Axios' Pete Gannon writes.

• KFC announced a deal to ditch its long-time beverage supplier for rival Coca-Cola at its U.S. restaurants.

🥤 The big picture: "KFC is one of the biggest sellers of Pepsi among U.S. restaurant chains, according to Beverage Digest, an industry tracker," WSJ reported today, before the deal was confirmed.

• PepsiCo will reportedly remain the supplier for many markets for KFC International, however.
• KFC had 33,897 restaurants at the end of 2025, though only 10% of them — roughly 3,400 — are in the U.S., per an SEC filing.

What they're saying: "Together, the new Coca-Cola partnership and KFC's continued expansion of beverages mark the next step in KFC's plan to meet changing consumer preferences and create a more relevant customer experience," KFC said.

💭 My thought bubble: Ouch.

The intrigue: PepsiCo owned KFC for more than a decade before spinning it off in 1997, along with Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

📉 The impact: Shares of PepsiCo slipped on the report, though it ended the day down just 0.7%.

📈 Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismissed concerns about the financial health of CoreWeave, as the cost of insuring the AI cloud company's debt against default surged to a record high, saying the company's strength is "improving every day." CoreWeave shares closed up 5.9% (Bloomberg)

💻 Apple and Meta, whose leaders have spent years trading barbs over privacy and the future of computing, are joining forces to bring one of America's most powerful open-weight AI models to Apple's high-end Macs. (Axios)

🤝 Penske Automotive inked a deal to be taken private by the automotive dealership group's biggest investors at a $16.3 billion enterprise value. (WSJ)

💳 Ramp, a fintech providing corporate cards and expense management software, raised $1.85 billion at a $60 billion valuation. (Ramp)

Union Pacific donated $2.5 million to President Trump's White House ballroom, per a list of donors and gifts reported by the Washington Post.

• Why it matters: The Omaha, Neb.-based railroad's proposed $85 billion Norfolk Southern acquisition requires federal regulatory approval, Axios' Colin Campbell notes.

💸 Zoom out: Top donors writing $25 million checks were Nvidia, Apple, Dish Network and the Adelson family.

Context: Union Pacific's check was one-tenth the size of Nvidia's, but proportionally three times larger when compared to market caps.

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