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SpaceX is _not_ profitable by most reasonable measurements of accounting. If you discount rocket depreciation costs and R&D, then yeah its profitable from starl
by boshalfoshal 5mo ago
SpaceX is _not_ profitable by most reasonable measurements of accounting. If you discount rocket depreciation costs and R&D, then yeah its profitable from starlink revenue.
- geertj 5mo agoSpaceX reuses its boosters 20+ times. Surely the depreciation is tiny when compared to the revenue of 60M+ per launch?
- computerex 5mo agoWhat about the R&D costs of blowing up vehicle after vehicle?
- jdross 5mo agoThey have over 300 falcon 9 launches in a row now, just in case you’re not caught up on the latest
- metabagel 5mo agoC'mon, you know they're talking about Starship.
- inemesitaffia 5mo agoIt's less than the yearly cost of ground stations (just under 1 million/year per installation) 5 million over 5 years capex+opex. Mostly opex It's also a troll post
- hooloovoo_zoo 5mo agoThey also have to replace 20%+ of their satellite network every year.
- jgord 5mo agowhy is that ?
- tverbeure 5mo agoBecause they fall back to the ground…
- hawaiianbrah 5mo agoThe operational lifetime of their satellites is about 5 years.
- FlyingAvatar 5mo agoThey are low earth orbit satellites. Generally, the lower the orbit, the faster they decay. You could also argue that this is a benefit in that they gain updated technology with each replacement.
- kibwen 5mo ago> You could also argue that this is a benefit in that they gain updated technology with each replacement. No, having the option to replace technology at your leisure would be a benefit. Being forced to replace your technology because it's destined to become aerosolized aluminum in less than five years is a detriment.
- darth_avocado 5mo agoThe entire space launch market is about $20B with multiple competitors in 2025. And by the most generous estimates it is going to be $80B by 2035. They can reuse the rockets as much as they like, the company isn’t worth $1.7T.
- chatmasta 5mo ago3x growth in ten years is the “most generous” estimate?
- darth_avocado 5mo agoYes because outside Starlink and govt contracts, there isn’t that massive of a demand growth in the sector. There a limit to how many satellites can be in orbit at a time and land based telecom infrastructure makes it so that satellite based infra isn’t necessary unless you’re in remote areas.
- inemesitaffia 5mo agoStarlink is already most of the revenue. What's the point of the except? The main problem is the AI stuff.
- Dig1t 5mo agoHow can you say “The company isn’t worth X”? Isn’t the company worth exactly as much as people are willing to pay for its shares? I don’t personally think Google is worth $4T but the share price says otherwise.
- darth_avocado 5mo agoYou’re comparing a publicly traded company where the supply demand economics have established a price to a company whose financials are not public, and is valuing itself at $1.7T and forcing everyone’s 401Ks and pension funds to fund it. Not the same thing.
- scuff3d 5mo agoDepreciation isn't the only thing that matters. R&D, manufacturing, maintenance, fuel, launch, support staff, and I'm sure there are countless others. I'm not saying they aren't profitable. I don't know, but it's definitely not a given.
- inemesitaffia 5mo agoThey did report FCF before xai and also invested at least $1B before they merged xai
- scuff3d 5mo agoGiven that it's one Musk company giving a mountain of money to another, and the only numbers floating around regarding SpaceX seem like marketing fluff, I don't think any meaningful conclusions can be reached until we get some real numbers giving a full look at the finances.
- inemesitaffia 5mo agoWe have real numbers for both the launch and Internet business. We know how much was spent by Xai too. You can wait for Godot if you wish.
- jordanb 5mo agoThey haven't released a 10k yet so we don't know, but from what I understand SpaceX+X.ai is not GAAP profitable.
- sroussey 5mo agoSpaceX was, but SpaceTwitter is not. xAI is hoovering all the money out of SpaceX.
- brightball 5mo agoBetween launches alone, Starlink and Starshield, SpaceX will likely be a money printing machine for a long time.