SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash
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Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash
#2Makes no sense, SpaceX has been profitable almost every year they've been in business. Musk & Jurvetson are on record multiple times of SpaceX's profitability and how the aerospace industry is uniquely structured that way.
Edit: The article doesn't even mention any rep from SpaceX saying they're profitable. This SEEMS like a guesstimate by the writer
Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash
#3Makes no sense, SpaceX has been profitable almost every year they've been in business. Musk & Jurvetson are on record multiple times of SpaceX's profitability and how the aerospace industry is uniquely structured that way. Edit: The article doesn't even mention any rep from SpaceX saying they're profitable. This SEEMS like a guesstimate by the writer
Companies have multiple definitions of profitability which they use for the desired effect.
Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash
#4Good to see an independent company do this. The only way space will be open to world is for it not to be shacked in the hands of governments; nor should it ever get stuck away as a corporate only endeavor. Let countries do the hard science, the exploration part, and step out of the way when someone else can do the mundane, especially when there are savings to be reaped
Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash
#5If SpaceX can fly out their 2015 manifest, that will be impressive. This is the year the Falcon Heavy is supposed to launch. Their first manned flight has apparently been postponed; it's been "2-3 years" away for 2 years now.[1]
I notice they've stopped putting dates on their manifest for future flights.[2][3] SpaceX is doing a great job, but they're behind their own schedule. They're two flights behind on ISS resupply, and launched less in 2014 than they'd planned. They may be having scaling problems with their organization. They have a a product and customers, but can't meet demand. This may get better once they get their own spaceport in Texas finished.
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20130802104411/http://www.spacex... [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20141030024140/http://www.spacex... [3] httpd://www.spacex.com/missions
Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash
#6Makes no sense, SpaceX has been profitable almost every year they've been in business. Musk & Jurvetson are on record multiple times of SpaceX's profitability and how the aerospace industry is uniquely structured that way. Edit: The article doesn't even mention any rep from SpaceX saying they're profitable. This SEEMS like a guesstimate by the writer
They should have left "profitable" out of the headline since they barely mention it in the article.
Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash
#7If SpaceX can fly out their 2015 manifest, that will be impressive. This is the year the Falcon Heavy is supposed to launch. Their first manned flight has apparently been postponed; it's been "2-3 years" away for 2 years now.[1] I notice they've stopped putting dates on their manifest for future flights.[2][3] SpaceX is doing a great job, but they're behind their own schedule. They're two flights behind on ISS resupp…
How will the spaceport in Texas help?
Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash
#8When's the IPO?
Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash
#9Makes no sense, SpaceX has been profitable almost every year they've been in business. Musk & Jurvetson are on record multiple times of SpaceX's profitability and how the aerospace industry is uniquely structured that way. Edit: The article doesn't even mention any rep from SpaceX saying they're profitable. This SEEMS like a guesstimate by the writer
Companies have multiple definitions of profitability which they use for the desired effect.
True, this is what the field of accounting theory is all about: how do you best represent the finances of a company? The best way to do so depends heavily on the type of company you're talking about and who wants to know the information, but many companies choose to keep multiple sets of books--one that follows the IRS's rules (this one is required), one that follows the SEC's rules (required if they are a publicly traded corporation), one for non-public investors, and one used internally allows management to make strategic decisions and departments to make plans.
The existence of various ways of considering the finances of a corporation don't necessarily mean that any one method is "wrong". But when you get into questions of "is it profitable?" The answer depends a lot on who's asking.
In any one month, more money may go out of your checking account than came in, but does that mean you lost money that month? Maybe some of the outgoing money was paying for a year's worth of an expensive service, or was an investment in some other company, or was the purchase of some assets that will allow you to become more productive. In those cases, while your cash flow may be negative, you can keep a set of books that spreads the cost of a year's worth of service over the entire year, even if you pay it all at once on January 1. Or a building you might want to spread the cost out over the duration of any loans you took out to pay for part of it, or if you paid cash, you still may want to spread the expense out over the 15 year expected lifetime of the asset.
Obviously the IRS and SEC rules have to be pretty standard across the board, but within any particular industry or business model, a different representation may provide investors or management with a more accurate picture than the IRS or SEC rules would allow.
Obviously all of these can be abused, and investors should be skeptical and do due diligence, but even 100% honest businesses may report a loss to the IRS, a profit to investors, and a break-even for the SEC. They aren't necessarily trying to scam anyone.
Re: SpaceX Profitable as Musk Pulls in NASA Contracts, Google Cash
#10If SpaceX can fly out their 2015 manifest, that will be impressive. This is the year the Falcon Heavy is supposed to launch. Their first manned flight has apparently been postponed; it's been "2-3 years" away for 2 years now.[1] I notice they've stopped putting dates on their manifest for future flights.[2][3] SpaceX is doing a great job, but they're behind their own schedule. They're two flights behind on ISS resupp…
> Their first manned flight has apparently been postponed; it's been "2-3 years" away for 2 years now.
That's not entirely on them. With manned spaceflight, they're on NASA time.