SpaceX agreed to acquire Anysphere, the company behind AI coding tool Cursor, in an all-stock deal valuing the startup at $60 billion. The company confirmed the agreement Tuesday in a regulatory filing, just days after its Nasdaq debut, which CNBC called the largest IPO ever.
This wasn't a surprise out of nowhere. SpaceX locked in an option back in April to either buy Cursor for $60 billion or pay a breakup package of $1.5 billion in cash plus $8.5 billion in computing resources. Tuesday's move confirms it went the whole way. The deal feeds xAI, the AI venture SpaceX absorbed in February, and the two teams have spent months jointly training a model headed for both Cursor and xAI's Grok platform.
The strategic logic gets shakier the closer you look. Cursor's market share slid from 41% in June 2025 to roughly 26% by May, per spending data from Ramp, with Anthropic now holding about half the category. SpaceX hasn't shared Cursor's customer list or revenue figures with its own investors.
COO Gwynne Shotwell told CNBC the partnership "makes a huge amount of sense," which is roughly what you'd expect a COO to say about a $60 billion purchase. The deal needs regulatory approval and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.
Bottom Line
SpaceX is paying $60 billion in stock for a coding tool whose market share fell from 41% to 26% over the past year.
Quick Facts
- Deal value: $60 billion, all stock
- Expected close: Q3 2026, pending regulatory approval
- Cursor market share: 41% (June 2025) down to ~26% (May), per Ramp
- Breakup terms set in April: $1.5B cash plus $8.5B in compute
- Anysphere founded 2022 by four MIT classmates
