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SpaceX Is Now One of the World’s Most Valuable Privately Held Companies

nytimes.com

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Re: SpaceX Is Now One of the World’s Most Valuable Privately Held Companies

#41

Post by Turing_Machine »

phkahler wrote: post #35
le-mark wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The BE-4 is an impressive engine [1], at 550,000 lbs of thrust it's about 1/3 of a Saturn F1[2], and it's stage combustion lox/methane. Blue Origin is building some impressive hardware. What's interesting to me is the dichotomy between Musk and Bezos vision for humanity in the Solar System. Musk is Mars focused almost exclusively. Bezos has talked about space habitats (O'neil cylinders for example [3]) as how he thin…

>> Bezos isn't playing, he's going all in, selling $1 billion of shares a year to fund Blue Origin [4]. One way to look at this situation is Musk and Bezos competing to be king of transportation infrastructure for the Solar System. High stakes indeed. I used to wonder what could happen if the guys with billions decided to do something interesting with all their money. This is some of the most interesting stuff I've e…

Yep. At one time a mark of being super-rich was owning a megayacht and a palatial estate.

Nowadays you haven't really arrived until you can afford to fund your own space program. :-)

Re: SpaceX Is Now One of the World’s Most Valuable Privately Held Companies

#42

Post by phkahler »

overcast wrote: post #8
joshuas wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does being publicly traded necessarily mean you focus on the short term nowadays? We've got companies like Snap who issue non voting shares. I imagine SpaceX could offer common shares that have no voting rights, accept all future dilution and require you punch yourself in the head on Tuesdays and they'd still have a pretty decent offering.

Being publicly traded means you become slave to shareholders. Their profit is ALL that matters.

Why not have non-voting shares that pay dividends? Then the shareholders would be buying a variable annuity that they price based on their belief in management and the company can ignore them. If you're planning to make money on share price increase, you're looking for a greater fool - someone who is willing to buy when you think it's time to sell.

Re: SpaceX Is Now One of the World’s Most Valuable Privately Held Companies

#44

Post by bhalperin »

protomyth wrote: post #38

Shouldn’t the title include some qualifier like “tech company”, because there are private companies like Cargill out there that have yearly revenue above $20 billion.

Revenue != valuation

(but you might still be correct!)

Re: SpaceX Is Now One of the World’s Most Valuable Privately Held Companies

#45

Post by Inconel »

loeg wrote: post #37
Inconel wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe I read about a month or so ago that Bezos plans on selling ~$1 billion worth of stock annually to fund BO, I could be misremembering the exact figures though. Even at that burn rate, assuming Amazon continues to do well, I don't think it will be too much of a drain on his wealth. Plus, he seems like a pretty long term thinker so I don't think he'll throw in the towel even in FH captures a big chunk of heavy…

This article provides the $1B/year figure, right after the part I quoted :-).

Oops, now I feel dumb for not reading the article. Thanks for the heads up!

Re: SpaceX Is Now One of the World’s Most Valuable Privately Held Companies

#46

Post by tertius »

burkaman wrote: post #20
omarforgotpwd wrote: post #16

In what world is SpaceX valued at $20B while Uber is valued at $69B?

$20B is right around NASA's budget. At least society is consistent in valuing space exploration.

Budget, as in expenditure per year no market value.

Re: SpaceX Is Now One of the World’s Most Valuable Privately Held Companies

#48

Post by phkahler »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #3

Excellent news, even if the round is peculiarly undersized. First time I've seen them be so coy with the identity of the investor, too.

>> Excellent news, even if the round is peculiarly undersized.

Yeah it smells like an attempt to increase their valuation, which this accomplishes. If they IPO those investors from a while back can cash out, but I wouldn't sell SpaceX at this point if I was able to own it. Unless there is some potential disaster we don't know about.

Re: SpaceX Is Now One of the World’s Most Valuable Privately Held Companies

#50

Post by mrep »

Inconel wrote: post #31
ChuckMcM wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a big fan of both companies, but having watched them grow I think the answer to whether or not it is true that Blue Origin is a competitor is, "No, yes, maybe?" If SpaceX can get Falcon Heavy to work then no, so much of the oxygen will be sucked out of the launch services market that Blue Origin will be hard pressed to compete. At that point. I see them much more likely as a ULA acquisition to insure engine suppl…

I believe I read about a month or so ago that Bezos plans on selling ~$1 billion worth of stock annually to fund BO, I could be misremembering the exact figures though. Even at that burn rate, assuming Amazon continues to do well, I don't think it will be too much of a drain on his wealth. Plus, he seems like a pretty long term thinker so I don't think he'll throw in the towel even in FH captures a big chunk of heavy…

Well, at a net worth of approximately 90 billion and assuming a 5% return rate, he can sped 4.5 billion dollars every year forever on the blue origin and never lose a penny.

I don't think he's too worried

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