Elon Musk says Google executive left SpaceX board due to “conflicts of interest”
SpaceX disclosed on November 6 that Google executive Donald Harrison had resigned from its board after serving for more than ten years. Harrison notified the company of his resignation on November 4, and it took effect immediately. SpaceX said his resignation was not due to any disagreement with the company over operations, policy or practices.
Elon Musk posted on X that Harrison left because he had too many conflicts of interest with Alphabet. He added that Don had always been an excellent board member and thanked him for his contributions. Harrison is currently president of global partnerships and corporate development at Google.
Alphabet is SpaceX’s largest single institutional shareholder. Google reported on Friday that its SpaceX stake had edged up to about 555 million shares. Harrison has served on SpaceX’s board since 2015 and is one of the longest-serving non-management directors.
Original source:
Title: Google executive Donald Harrison resigns from SpaceX board Publisher: Reuters Publication date: 2026-11-06 URL: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/google-executive-donald-harrison-resigns-spacex-board-2026-11-06/ Source type: news agency report Verification status: This reading confirmed the full Reuters text and Musk’s original post, verification date 2026-11-06 Supporting content: supports all resignation timing, company statement and Musk’s remarks in the body
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SpaceX disclosed on November 6 that Google executive Donald Harrison had resigned from its board after serving for more than ten years. Harrison notified the company of his resignation on November 4, and it took effect immediately. SpaceX said his resignation was not due to any disagreement with the company.
On governance and shareholding, Elon Musk said on X that Harrison left because he had too many conflicts of interest with Alphabet, and described him as an excellent board member. Harrison is currently president of global partnerships and corporate development at Google. Alphabet is SpaceX’s largest single institutional shareholder, and on Friday reported that its stake had edged up to about 555 million shares. Harrison has served as a director since 2015.
Compared with SpaceX’s other directors, Harrison represents Alphabet’s shareholding and business relationship. The similarity is that both participate in corporate governance; the key difference is that he is also an executive of SpaceX’s largest institutional shareholder, and Google has competition and customer relationships with SpaceX-related businesses in the AI field. SpaceX and Tesla boards have formed an independent committee to assess a possible merger.
For SpaceX, Harrison’s departure removes one director with ties to Alphabet, but Alphabet’s shareholding remains unchanged. For Alphabet, giving up a board seat may reduce the perception of governance conflict while maintaining a major shareholder position. For the market, the resignation comes during discussions of a possible SpaceX and Tesla merger, drawing attention to the composition of independent directors.
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Donald Harrison resigned from the SpaceX board on November 4 after serving for more than ten years.
Musk said he left because he had too many conflicts of interest with Alphabet and described him as an excellent director.
Alphabet is SpaceX’s largest single institutional shareholder, holding about 555 million shares.