The Zhitong Finance App learned that SpaceX (SPCX.US) said on Friday that Don Harrison has resigned from the company's board of directors. According to reports, Harrison has been working at Google since 2005 and is currently Google's president of global cooperation and enterprise development. This personnel change occurred about five months after SpaceX completed its largest IPO on record; currently, SpaceX and Tesla (TSLA.US) are evaluating a potential merger through a special committee, and the impact of SpaceX shares held by Google's parent company Alphabet (GOOGL.US) on financial reports is also receiving attention.
SpaceX stated in regulatory documents that “Mr. Harrison's decision to resign was not due to differences with the company on any matters such as operations, policies, or practices.” SpaceX thanked Harrison for his “many contributions and years of focus and outstanding service” to the company.
Elon Musk said last month that SpaceX and Tesla have formed a special committee composed of independent directors to evaluate potential mergers. According to reports, the two sides are working hard to announce an agreement in the first half of next year to complete the deal during the Trump administration. Musk has yet to say which board members are on the two companies' special committees. Harrison is one of the independent directors certified by SpaceX; others include Ira Ehrenpreis, Roelof Botha, Luke Nosek, Steve Jurvetson, and Randy Glein.
Alphabet maintains close ties with SpaceX and invested in the Musk-led company in 2015, when SpaceX was valued at about $12 billion. As of Friday's close, Alphabet is SpaceX's largest institutional investor, with shares worth $74 billion; SpaceX's current market capitalization is about $1.8 trillion. Due to the fall in SpaceX's stock price last quarter, this investment dragged down Alphabet's financial results announced last week.
Google is an important SpaceX customer and has agreed to pay up to $920 million a month to SpaceX's artificial intelligence division to obtain computing power from the latter's data center in the Memphis, Tennessee area. The two companies also recently collaborated through the Project Suncatcher project to put Google's AI chip into orbit. Meanwhile, Google and SpaceX are competing in the field of AI models and chatbots.
“While Don will step down from the board, we remain steadfast in our support of SpaceX's mission and are excited to continue our long-standing partnership,” Google said in an emailed statement.