SpaceX exercises its option to buy Cursor maker Anysphere for $60B in stock; deal closes Aug 14
On June 16, 2026 SpaceX said it would buy Anysphere, maker of the AI code editor Cursor, for $60 billion in an all-stock deal. It was exercising a right it had announced on April 21, 2026: buy Cursor later in the year for $60B, or pay $10B for the companies' joint work. The acquisition closed on Aug 14, 2026. Cursor became a wholly owned subsidiary folded into SpaceXAI, and the deal is widely described as the largest acquisition of a venture-backed startup.
Key facts
- Apr 21, 2026: SpaceX says it has the right to buy Cursor later in 2026 for $60B, or else pay $10B for 'our work together'; SpaceXAI and Cursor were already co-developing coding AI
- June 16, 2026: merger agreement signed; SpaceX exercises the purchase right in an all-stock deal
- Aug 14, 2026: closing; per SpaceX's 8-K, Anysphere shares converted into 389,289,254 SpaceX Class A shares, with Cursor RSUs and options rolled into SpaceX awards
- Cursor now operates as a wholly owned SpaceX subsidiary integrated into the SpaceXAI team
- Aftermath: on Aug 28, 2026 OpenAI used a change-of-control clause to end its model contract with Cursor (shutoff proposed for Nov 12, 2026)
- Cursor's revenue at the time of the deal is reported inconsistently (from over $1B to ~$4B annualized); not verified here
What happened
In April 2026 SpaceX, which had already absorbed xAI and X, announced an unusual deal with Anysphere, the company behind the Cursor AI code editor. SpaceX got the right to acquire Cursor for $60 billion by the end of the year. If it did not, it would pay $10 billion for the joint work the two companies were doing on coding and knowledge-work AI. On June 16, 2026 SpaceX signed the merger agreement and exercised the right in an all-stock deal. It closed on August 14, 2026, and Cursor was folded into SpaceXAI.
Why it matters
The deal gave Musk's AI effort one of the most widely used AI coding products, placing SpaceXAI in direct competition with Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex. It also had consequences for model suppliers: OpenAI soon cut Cursor off from its models, while Cursor already offered xAI's Grok models.
Changelog
- 2026-09-30: created (lead from the leads queue; previously only mentioned in 2026-08-28-openai-cuts-off-cursor-spacex)
Related events
- SpaceX absorbs xAI in a $1.25 trillion merger (later rebranded SpaceXAI) ★★★★
- SpaceX (incl. xAI) lists on Nasdaq in record $75B IPO ★★★★
- OpenAI ends its model contract with Cursor after SpaceX's acquisition, citing Musk's record of breaking contracts ★★★
- SpaceXAI launches Grok Bot, always-on agent 'teammates' with their own cloud computers ★★★
- Musk's X Corp and SpaceXAI drop antitrust claims against Apple, keep suing OpenAI ahead of a Jan 2027 trial ★★
Sources (7)
- pressCNBC: SpaceX says it can buy Cursor later this year for $60 billion or pay $10 billion for 'our work together' (Apr 21)
- pressBloomberg: SpaceX has deal for right to acquire Cursor for $60 billion (Apr 21)
- pressCNBC: SpaceX to acquire the AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion (June 16)
- pressNYT: SpaceX Cursor acquisition (June 16)
- officialSEC Form 8-K, SpaceX, Aug 14, 2026 (completion of acquisition)
- pressBloomberg Law: SpaceX completes its $60 billion Cursor acquisition
- discussionWikipedia: Cursor (company)
id: 2026-06-16-spacex-acquires-cursor · updated 2026-09-30 · open in the interactive timeline