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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

#221

Post by rabf »

wildzzz wrote: post #184
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.

The iPod was a peripheral to use alongside your MacBook, it was meant to drive Apple computer sales initially and it's not like it was Apple's first attempt at a portable device (Newton). Nokia was building telecom equipment (stemming from their telephone cable experience, the insulation being a product of their original rubber business) and military equipment along with a bunch of other consumer electronics before t…

Spacex has no existing customer to satisfy their future launch ambitions with Starship, hence data centers in space, just like they did with starlink to provide the necessary demand for Falcon 9. The launch business is not profitable without a regular cadence, too many fixed costs - ground infrastructure and personnel.

X can supply training data to to Xai and Grok is heavily integrated into X so there is some synergy there.

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

#222

Post by dragontamer »

DaedalusII wrote: post #129
dragontamer wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The typical "investor" is an ETF these days. Your standard SPY or VTI investor doesn't know jack diddly squat about shareholder rights, nor do they ever plan to invoke them.

you should have a look at proxy firms. you would be surprised

Could you explain to me how an investor owning SPY shares gets to control the proxy vote?

Oh, don't worry. I already know the answer. I'm asking if YOU can tell me the answer.

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

#223

Post by rabf »

groby_b wrote: post #211
miohtama wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a valid point. But the markets are a harsh mistress. If you don't like fallacies, you don't buy. And if you think the number is not going to go up, you can always short the stock. In defence of Mr Musk, despite his character flaws, Tesla is the only Western electric car company in the top 20, and this includes Korea and Japan. Also, SpaceX is ~90% of the world's commercial rocket launch capacity. But this does n…

> you can always short the stock. Which is going not too badly for the shorts, so far. There's a reason almost 50% of the float is loaned out. We'll see once the earnings call rolls around.

Possible that a lot of those shorts are by early SpaceX investors who want to lock in a specific price before their share lockup period ends.

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

#224

Post by downrightmike »

benoau wrote: post #114
glimshe wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Presumably Starlink for routing throughout space. Google does under-sea cables and domestic internet access too.

Having your exponentially more expensive fleet of satellites constantly burning up versus dedicated cables that rarely need replacing

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

#225

Post by kelnos »

StilesCrisis wrote: post #185
andsoitis wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You don't get much of a say in how your retirement fund is invested.

How true is that these days? Sure, old-school pension funds are managed without any input from the future pensioners, but most 401ks (and similar) these days have a variety of investment options that the employee can choose from. Yes, there are some that have extremely limited options, but I'm not sure how common those are.

And once you've left the company and roll those 401ks over into IRAs, you can put them at whatever financial institution you want, many of which have more or less unlimited flexibility (within legality) with regard to what you can invest in.

Now, I know many employees just sort of adopt an "autopilot" attitude and don't pay much attention to their retirement account investments, but that's on them for ignoring this stuff. (The lack of general financial literacy, in the US at least, continues to disappoint me.)

So: yes, there are some people who don't have much of a say in how their retirement fund is invested, but my feeling is that those people are a small minority. I do think a large number (perhaps even a majority) of people do have the ability to direct their retirement investments, but either don't know they can do it, or can't be bothered. Again, though, that's on them for not educating themselves and playing a more active role in their financial future.

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

#226

Post by downrightmike »

230581abv wrote: post #199
rf15 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure at an $80 valuation they will tell everyone how it's time to buy as it slides down further

Pichai will talk about data centers in space again, like he did before the IPO. Then he'll sell SPCX.

1 Gigawatt in space is about 31k acres of just solar panels, not including heat dissipation systems. Given we can't block the sky for advertising, and this would block the night sky worse, I don't see it happening.

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

#227

Post by kelnos »

dragontamer wrote: post #109
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.

The typical "investor" is an ETF these days. Your standard SPY or VTI investor doesn't know jack diddly squat about shareholder rights, nor do they ever plan to invoke them.

Willful ignorance is not an excuse. If you buy into an ETF, you are delegating responsibility to the people who run the ETF (or the people who maintain the index that the ETF tracks), and you've decided you're ok with that, and are ok with whatever companies are in the index/ETF.

You can always decide to pick an ETF that doesn't invest in the companies you don't like, or invest in individual stocks if you have the time and stomach for it.

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

#228

Post by xnickb »

rabf wrote: post #221
wildzzz wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPod was a peripheral to use alongside your MacBook, it was meant to drive Apple computer sales initially and it's not like it was Apple's first attempt at a portable device (Newton). Nokia was building telecom equipment (stemming from their telephone cable experience, the insulation being a product of their original rubber business) and military equipment along with a bunch of other consumer electronics before t…

Spacex has no existing customer to satisfy their future launch ambitions with Starship, hence data centers in space, just like they did with starlink to provide the necessary demand for Falcon 9. The launch business is not profitable without a regular cadence, too many fixed costs - ground infrastructure and personnel. X can supply training data to to Xai and Grok is heavily integrated into X so there is some synergy…

I didn't expect to read "Datacenters in space" on HN.

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

#229

Post by jamiequint »

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.

"Internet constellations may be mildly profitable"

It's insanely profitable they did $7.2bn in EBITDA on $11.4bn in revenue in 2025.

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

#230

Post by adastra22 »

lkbm wrote: post #209
adastra22 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They invested in SpaceX long before Starlink was a thibgy

Starlink wasn't working yet, but had been announced as a thing they intended to do.

Ehh, more like Starlink was a thing they said they'd do to justify the investment at the time. Just like they said they'd build an assembly line mass producing Falcon 1's for small launch market, or send a Starship full of artists around the Moon. The first prototypes were three years later.
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