SpaceX To Acquire AI Coding Startup Cursor For $60 Billion (cnbc.com)
- Reference: 0183914372
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/06/16/174209/spacex-to-acquire-ai-coding-startup-cursor-for-60-billion
- Source link: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/16/spacex-spcx-cursor-acquisition-ipo.html
> [3]Cursor built a popular AI coding tool that helps software developers generate, edit and review code, and the company has experienced explosive growth since its founding in 2022. In November, Cursor said it crossed $1 billion in annualized revenue, according to a release at the time. Cursor was also ranked at No. 37 on the annual CNBC Disruptor 50 list in 2026.
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> [...] Musk merged SpaceX with his AI startup, xAI, earlier this year, and the Cursor deal looks set to help revitalize the company's efforts to compete with rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI, which also offer popular coding tools. SpaceX expects the merger to close during the third quarter of this year, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The transaction is subject to "requisite regulatory approvals," the filing said.
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/16/spacex-spcx-cursor-acquisition-ipo.html
[2] https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/06/12/0612250/spacex-ipo-makes-elon-musk-worlds-first-trillionaire
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursor_(company)
$60B *in stock* (Score:5, Funny)
So, about $4.99 after SpaceX stock dumps because the IPO is a crowdfunding scam for a business that doesn't make money.
Re: (Score:2)
It probably will drop, but the trick of successfully shorting involves getting the timing right. Nobody would agree to a short that worked exactly the inverse of buying as in investment (where you'd buy your short position high and then have the freedom to wait as long as you'd like for the stock to dip low enough to your satisfaction). If shorts worked like that, most people would bet against IPOs, because historically the majority of them do drop within the first year.
It's easier to think of shorts as l
The SpaceX Valuation is Insane (Score:2)
SpaceX is worth more than Microsoft or Amazon at this point. It boggles the mind how much people are betting on the future just because Musk is a genius. If he gets sick the stocks craters 80% easily and this $60B is more like $12B.
Genius, alright... (Score:3, Interesting)
Genius con-artist and circlejerker.
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> It boggles the mind how much people are betting on the future just because Musk is a genius.
Not as much as it boggles the mind how people can still think Musk is a genius. Literally all of his wealth is based on their beliefs making them make stupid decisions which enrich him.
Re: (Score:1)
Musk delivers on the promises he makes, even if late, and he has a clear cut goals that sound crazy to most people but turn out to be amazing decisions. For example with Tesla if you look at his 'master plan' from 20 years ago it is exactly what the company did step by step. The fundamental value of the companies based on only their income still makes Musk worth hundreds of billions, just not the outrageous valuations given based on future expectations. Thinking he is not a genius is actually insane or a co
Re: (Score:2)
Delivering "late" is not delivering at all.
For example -- "The Roadster 2 is going into manufacture *this year*" he said, several years ago.
For example -- "We will have humans on Mars by 2024" he said. Even if he eventually does deliver humans to Mars, he still broke that promise.
Saying you're going to do something by a certain date and then not doing so constitutes a broken promise -- even if you do it a decade later.
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Of course Musk is a genius... those who say otherwise are idiots.
After all, how else would I be enjoying my FSD Roadster 2 that charges from my solar roof-tiles before the drive through a Boring Company tunnel to the Hyperloop terminal where I'm whisked off to the SpaceX launch-pad in anticipation of a Starship flight to join some of the others who set up that initial Mars base back in 2024.
Those who say that Musk is a snake-oil merchant who doesn't deliver on his promises are just deniers who simply choos
Re:The SpaceX Valuation is Insane (Score:5, Insightful)
> SpaceX is worth more than Microsoft or Amazon at this point. It boggles the mind how much people are betting on the future just because Musk is a genius. If he gets sick the stocks craters 80% easily and this $60B is more like $12B.
He's not a genius, I sincerely think he's average to slightly below average intelligence for a software dev. Just look how clueless he really is [1]when he pretends to be a technical guru in front of actual experts [youtube.com].
That doesn't mean he doesn't have some exceptional skills, but IQ isn't one of them.
First, he's hard working, at least in spurts (during critical deadlines), and he's willing to make and implement big decisions quickly. Just look at DOGE, Republicans have been trying to lay waste to the US government for decades, but Musk is the only one to actually do it. It was a complete disaster, but it wasn't ethics or common sense that stopped the previous attempts, that's a legit talent for Musk.
Second, CEOs aren't allowed to lie, but Musk has figured out that you can get around that by building a cult of personality and then making ridiculously optimistic predictions and then sell minor advancements as progress. The result is he has a core group of retail investors that buy his stocks based on vibes and refuse to sell once in. Since these retail investors prevent the stock from going down too much institutional investors also jump in on the ride. It's basically tulip bulbs.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZslebJEZbE
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Doge wasn't all him. It was just project 2025. And he didn't make big decisions, he made stupid and easy ones to kill children in exchange for tax cuts that made him a trillionaire.
In the real world he has teams of people whose job it to prevent him from making decisions at his companies.
Re: (Score:2)
My bust-up on DOGE: It took two leaders - musk and what's-his-name. Every other Federal dept. has one secretary. The dept. of Gov. Efficiency - "we're so efficient we need two guys!!!"
I still laugh at that.
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Not just "the future", but the future of AI. If you go by future projected revenue as predicted by SpaceX (which is the only projection that justifies their valuation), they are an AI company with a small space division. An AI market in which they are not at all well-positioned. Buying Cursor may improve that somewhat. Maybe that's the plan - buy every promising AI startup with stock, until they hit gold.
For what? (Score:4, Interesting)
It's just a reskinned VSCode, 99% of users probably dont even use Cursor's model.
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Cursor has a model? Oh yeah, I totally forgot they had one. Literally. Not a joke.
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Interesting, that explains a lot. Until now, I thought I might want to try Cursor, but I already have VS Code with Claude and GitHub Copilot, so why bother!
Re: For what? (Score:2)
I use opencode, with GitHub CoPilot/Claude Sonnet 4.6. Works great for me.
I much prefer it to using CoPilot in VSCode, which is pretty much useless (I can only access the one file that's open in your editor, or the extra file(s) you give me one just one query and then you have to add them all again to all a follow up question -- such bollox).
When OpenAI offered to buy Windsurf IDE (Score:2)
Back in early 2025, Elon Musk laughed that OpenAI was paying $3 billion for Windsurf and mused that they can't even build an IDE themselves.
I can't find the tweet easily to link here .. but I recall someone else had said that and he re-tweeted it with a crying with laughter smiley.
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> Too bad if you didn't get in on the IPO.
It hit trading markets at $150 per share. At least with something like Bitcoin, you could honestly say that at one point it was affordable to mere mortals who really did miss out on a chance at going from rags-to-riches. Tech IPOs are the realm of folks with insane amounts of extra money to gamble.
Re: (Score:2)
That's $60 billion today (with SpaceX stock near $170) but how much/little will it be in 2 year's time? If I was Cursor, I'd be wanting a fair amount of cold, hard cash in that deal :-)
Re: With xAI and Cursor (Score:2)
$60bn in stocks can be sold.
Re: With xAI and Cursor (Score:2)
Do you think Musk read Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson?
AI Overview:
The AI in Red Mars: "Paul"Unlike standard science fiction tropes of sentient, rogue androids, the artificial intelligence in Red Mars is depicted with grounded, near-future realism.
The "Paul" System: The primary AI is a ubiquitous, advanced operating system named Paul, run on the colony's wrist-bound computers (vidphones) and lab networks. It is named after the physicist Wolfgang Pauli.
Functional Utility: Paul acts as a highly sophisticated
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I think xAI is falling behind (does anyone using Cursor use xAI as a coding agent?).
Perhaps this is Musk's way of buying market-share for a product that's really failing to perform right now (xAI).
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Cursor has already peaked.