Elon Musk, a pioneer in commercial space exploration andelectric cars, is now tinkering with one of Wall Street's moststoried products: the management led buyout.

Musk, in tweeting Tuesday that he may take Tesla Inc. private,said he hoped “all” investors would remain shareholders after thebuyout rather than follow the conventional approach of cashing out.He looked no further than his rocket company—Space ExplorationTechnologies Corp.—for a way to keep Tesla shareholdersonboard.

For years SpaceX has run an internal stock market for employeesand other shareholders, allowing it to remain closely held. Theycan privately sell shares to sophisticated investors such asFidelity Investments through liquidity events, according to aletter from Musk to employees. Tesla could use a similar structureto go private without requiring stockholders to cash out, saidSohail Prasad, founder of San Francisco-based Equidate, which helpsclosely held tech firms hold similar share sales.