Cognition CEO Denies SpaceX Acquisition Report, Calls It Inaccurate
On August 19, 2026, Bloomberg revealed that SpaceX had made an attempt to purchase the AI coding startup Cognition. However, CEO Scott Wu took to X to refute this claim, asserting that Cognition "is not for sale" and that no negotiations took place. This news came after SpaceX's $60 billion acquisition of Cursor. Prior to this, SpaceX had acquired Musk's xAI and went public in June, reaching a market cap of nearly $2.3 trillion. Cognition, an influential independent AI startup with clients such as Mercedes-Benz and Citi, secured $1 billion at a $25 billion valuation in May and is currently in preliminary discussions for a new funding round at $40 billion. The company had also acquired assets from Windsurf, resulting in layoffs and stringent work demands. Neither SpaceX nor Cognition has commented on the matter.
Key facts
- Bloomberg reported that SpaceX attempted to acquire AI coding startup Cognition.
- Cognition CEO Scott Wu denied the report on X, saying the company is not for sale and no talks occurred.
- SpaceX recently acquired Cursor for $60 billion, with the deal closing last week.
- SpaceX acquired xAI earlier this year and went public in June.
- SpaceX's market capitalization peaked at nearly $2.3 trillion.
- Cognition raised $1 billion at a $25 billion post-money valuation in late May.
- Cognition is in early talks for a new funding round at a $40 billion valuation.
- Cognition acquired Windsurf's remaining assets after Google DeepMind acqui-hired Windsurf's CEO and top research in a $2.4 billion deal.
Entities
Artists
- Elon Musk
- Scott Wu
Institutions
- SpaceX
- Cognition
- Bloomberg
- Cursor
- xAI
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- Google DeepMind
- Mercedes-Benz
- Citi
- Goldman Sachs
- Windsurf
- X