Donald Harrison Left SpaceX Board Over Alphabet Conflicts, Musk Says

SpaceX says Class B director Donald Harrison has resigned from its board of directors, effective immediately, according to a Form 8-K the company filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, November 6.

Harrison notified Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of his intention to resign on November 4, the filing says. It states his decision “was not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to its operations, policies, or practices.”

The company and the board expressed “deep appreciation” for his contributions and years of service, and wished him well. The report was signed by SpaceX chief financial officer Bret Johnsen.

“Don has been a great board member. Very much appreciate his contributions,” Musk wrote on X Friday evening. “At this point, there are simply too many conflicts of interest with Alphabet, so he decided to step down.”

Musk’s explanation adds the reason the filing left out. The 8-K says only that Harrison’s exit was not due to any disagreement with SpaceX over its operations, policies, or practices, which fits Musk’s account of a conflict tied to Alphabet rather than a dispute with the company. Musk did not detail what the specific conflicts were.

SpaceX’s Class A shares trade on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, which is why a single board change now shows up as a public Item 5.02 disclosure. The filing does not name a replacement, say whether the Class B seat will be filled, or mention any other board or committee changes.

Board composition has drawn extra attention this fall after Tesla and SpaceX each formed special committees to study a possible combination, a deal Elon Musk has said is not certain. Nothing in Friday’s filing connects Harrison’s exit to that process.

For investors, the takeaway is short: one Class B director is out as of November 4, SpaceX says it was not over a policy fight, and Musk points to conflicts of interest with Alphabet.