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Google Discloses $94.1B in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake

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Re: Google Discloses $94.1B in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake

#141

Post by Applejinx »

mrits wrote: post #97
mhitza wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love the typo. I think Musk's luck is running out, he's been too political this past year and he seems to also have run out of geek "street cred". Remember youtubers visiting (whatever the Tesla trade show was called) were more perplexed than impressed with what has been shown. Similar sentiment seen across trade shows (like CES) where everything was AI and no one seemed to ask themselves "why are we putting AI in th…

It’s so weird to see people actively try to criticize arguably the most successful person in the history of Earth.

If you framed it as 'the biggest criminal' it'd still be impressive but would read mighty different. Acquiring money and power is no way to go through life. Not at that cost.

Re: Google Discloses $94.1B in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake

#142

Post by andsoitis »

NuclearPM wrote: post #106
jdross wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These have become some of the most valuable companies on Earth. The idea that there are lapses in governance in these companies is insane. Any shareholder is buying in fully aware of the governance structure. Many because of it! Shareholders’ rights are clearly enumerated.

> Any shareholder is buying in fully aware of the governance structure. This is laughable. Many shareholders don’t even know they own stock in these companies.

That’s an indictment on them. You should know where you’re putting your money and why. If you delegate this to a professional or influencer, you do not get to blame them. After all, you could just buy something you think you understand better like real estate or keep it in cash.

Re: Google Discloses $94.1B in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake

#143

Post by alberth »

miohtama wrote: post #41

This investment has never been secret. Google (now under parent company Alphabet) invested roughly $900 million as the majority of a ~$1 billion funding round alongside Fidelity Investments. This gave Google an initial equity stake of about 7–7.5% in SpaceX at a valuation of roughly $10–12 billion.

Original HN thread, 11-years ago (220 comments):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8914956

Re: Google Discloses $94.1B in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake

#144

Post by browningstreet »

trimbo wrote: post #126
matwood wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember this was also when SpaceX was actually about space, instead of mostly AI and Twitter. Long-term shareholders that were sold on the space, have to be thinking about how to get out once their lockups expire.

I don't think companies expanding their business should be the only reason to sell. Apple was a desktop and laptop computer company when they released the iPod. Nokia was a company making rubber products when they started making cellular equipment in the 1970s. Amazon was a ecomm company when they released AWS. Etc. Sure, I'm cherrypicking the success stories but I don't think it's the only signal people should use.

SpaceX had adult leadership for a long time. I suspect there was a tacit agreement with Musk about a bit of separation.

He broke through that professional firewall when he merged xAI with SpaceX and then pushed it to go public as he did. I also posit that Gwynne Shotwell is weirdly undervalued for what she's accomplished and what she's put up with, and I think that will show up some time in the future.

There was enough technical analysis to show that even Musk's cult feed can't overcome the significant financial hardships he laid on SpaceX. I personally think it was his jump the shark move. He can't really go up again after this. He no longer has any untainted assets for mega-exploits.

Re: Google Discloses $94.1B in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake

#146

Post by dmix »

wongarsu wrote: post #88
SecretDreams wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Investors are buying into the fallacy that musk can continue to work as a hype man, rather than some visionary or innovator. They like that he can make stock numbers go up, seemingly against all odds and reason. Whether this trend continues or not indefinitely will largely determine if incestors start looking for the door.

Unlike Tesla, SpaceX is still a visionary and innovative company. Their current cash problems are precisely because they are so heavily invested in so many innovations that have yet to pan out

Tesla is making two big R&D plays into humanoid robotics and cyber taxi. That’s just as bold and requiring innovation as the SpaceX AI and starship stuff. That plus Tesla/SpaceX/Intel are together putting big money into Terafab to make semiconductors in Texas for those platforms.

Re: Google Discloses $94.1B in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake

#147

Post by cineticdaffodil »

dopa42365 wrote: post #116
mrits wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did you get $15 billion from?

Or $150 billion SpaceX? Internet constellations may be mildly profitable, but beyond that, most things are an endless money pit without clear path towards profit anytime soon. Like, no one is going to spend a trillion on a moon base (or exponentially more for mars) without plans to somehow recover all that money.

Moon is taxfree zone?

Re: Google Discloses $94.1B in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake

#148

Post by cromka »

glimshe wrote: post #111
wenbin wrote: post #110

Alphabet is the modern day berkshire hathaway. Alphabet’s investment holdings (eg, spacex, anthropic..) are worth in the same order of magnitude of BRK’s (~$300B) The track record of google’s M&A is pretty good. Except for search and cloud, many of Google’s important products were from M&A - Maps, Docs, android, doubleclick, youtube , deep mind, etc.

The companies you listed have great synergy with Google's core business. What's Google's play with SpaceX? Data centers in space?

Google Cloud, low latency cross-continental links, etc.

Re: Google Discloses $94.1B in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake

#149

Post by sdenton4 »

browningstreet wrote: post #144
trimbo wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think companies expanding their business should be the only reason to sell. Apple was a desktop and laptop computer company when they released the iPod. Nokia was a company making rubber products when they started making cellular equipment in the 1970s. Amazon was a ecomm company when they released AWS. Etc. Sure, I'm cherrypicking the success stories but I don't think it's the only signal people should use.

SpaceX had adult leadership for a long time. I suspect there was a tacit agreement with Musk about a bit of separation. He broke through that professional firewall when he merged xAI with SpaceX and then pushed it to go public as he did. I also posit that Gwynne Shotwell is weirdly undervalued for what she's accomplished and what she's put up with, and I think that will show up some time in the future. There was enou…

"succeeding despite Elon musk" is, however, a skill set applicable at only a (strike)small number of companies (/strike) single company.

Re: Google Discloses $94.1B in SpaceX Stock, Marking 6% Stake

#150

Post by CamperBob2 »

andsoitis wrote: post #142
NuclearPM wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any shareholder is buying in fully aware of the governance structure. This is laughable. Many shareholders don’t even know they own stock in these companies.

That’s an indictment on them. You should know where you’re putting your money and why. If you delegate this to a professional or influencer, you do not get to blame them. After all, you could just buy something you think you understand better like real estate or keep it in cash.

Exactly. If nothing else, you should know who you're supporting.

Many people wouldn't support SpaceX and Tesla if they knew more about Musk. Conversely, some other people who don't know much about him might want to support his companies.

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