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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

#51

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#52

Post by mrep »

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…

Repeat:

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

This is play money for him when you are that rich.

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

#53

Post by gogopuppygogo »

Overtonwindow wrote: post #49

The best thing Mr. Musk can do, in my humble opinion, is to never, ever take SpaceX public.

Why not do a limited IPO that ensures he retains control.

Don't the people working for SpaceX deserve to have liquidity?

Isn't it fair for the general public to have the ability to profit off of his epic feats?

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

#54

Post by mrep »

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.

4 letters: amzn

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

#55

Post by EduardoBautista »

BlackjackCF wrote: post #36
loeg wrote: post #4

> Mr. Musk faces competition from another billionaire. Blue Origin, a rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, aims to send tourists and supplies into space. Is that line even close to true? Last I heard Blue Origin was years away from revenue and far behind SpaceX in terms of capability and manufacturing.

Maybe not right now, but I wouldn't ever underestimate Bezos. Musk and Bezos are both people I wouldn't bet against, but they're so drastically different in their styles. Musk is flashy, but gets shit done. Bezos knows how to get shit done quietly... and suddenly he's dominated and bought everything around you.

Amazon has a load of terrible products. Even their store is getting worse and worse. The fire phone was a complete flop. Amazon cloud drive and music are not at all at the same level as their competitors. Google Home is looking as though it's going to surpass the Echo.

Amazon is successful because they are fine with taking losses, only just recently making a small amount of profit compared to their scale.

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

#56

Post by troyastorino »

BlackjackCF wrote: post #36
loeg wrote: post #4

> Mr. Musk faces competition from another billionaire. Blue Origin, a rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, aims to send tourists and supplies into space. Is that line even close to true? Last I heard Blue Origin was years away from revenue and far behind SpaceX in terms of capability and manufacturing.

Maybe not right now, but I wouldn't ever underestimate Bezos. Musk and Bezos are both people I wouldn't bet against, but they're so drastically different in their styles. Musk is flashy, but gets shit done. Bezos knows how to get shit done quietly... and suddenly he's dominated and bought everything around you.

Blue Origin has turtles in it's coat of arms because the strategy is slow and steady...Bezos doesn't feel the need to compete on speed here.

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

#57

Post by protomyth »

bhalperin wrote: post #44
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!)

I think it’s likely that a company with revenue in a year equal to another company’s total valuation might have a pretty high chance of having a higher valuation.

In 2011, Cargill was estimated to be worth $55 billion http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2011/01/20/cargill-va...

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

#59

Post by Govindae »

loeg wrote: post #4

> Mr. Musk faces competition from another billionaire. Blue Origin, a rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, aims to send tourists and supplies into space. Is that line even close to true? Last I heard Blue Origin was years away from revenue and far behind SpaceX in terms of capability and manufacturing.

They are the only direct competitor on technology development. In 10 years, BO aims to be flying reusable rockets larger than the Falcon 9. You can't say that about and other company (except for SpaceX).

They are more directly a competitor for talent. Rocket engineering is a small world.

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

#60

Post by BatFastard »

EduardoBautista wrote: post #55
BlackjackCF wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe not right now, but I wouldn't ever underestimate Bezos. Musk and Bezos are both people I wouldn't bet against, but they're so drastically different in their styles. Musk is flashy, but gets shit done. Bezos knows how to get shit done quietly... and suddenly he's dominated and bought everything around you.

Amazon has a load of terrible products. Even their store is getting worse and worse. The fire phone was a complete flop. Amazon cloud drive and music are not at all at the same level as their competitors. Google Home is looking as though it's going to surpass the Echo. Amazon is successful because they are fine with taking losses, only just recently making a small amount of profit compared to their scale.

If you are not failing, then you are not trying enough new things. Amazon has been successful a lot, a LOT more often than they have failed.
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