Tesla merger with SolarCity officially approved by shareholders

In a statement on Tesla's website, the automaker says, "Excluding the votes of Elon [Musk] and other affiliated shareholders, more than 85 percent of shares voted were cast in favor of the acquisition. With SolarCity's shareholders also having approved the acquisition, the transaction will be completed in the coming days."

Earlier this month in a blog post, Tesla laid out the reasons a SolarCity merger makes sense for both companies. As you would expect, considering he was clearly one of the main architects behind the deal, Tesla and SolarCity head Elon Musk is pleased with the result. In a tweet this afternoon, Musk thanked the company's shareholders "for believing."

Tesla cites $150 million worth of "direct cost synergies" that will be realized in the merger with SolarCity, through sales and marketing efficiencies and "corporate and overhead savings." Now, all the merged company needs is for lots of Model S, Model X, and future Model 3 owners to put SolarCity solar cells on their roofs and Powerwalls in their garages.