A look into the finances of SpaceX

Post by loandbehold » Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 7:51 PM UTC

space_fountain wrote: post #53

el_nahual wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By definition, spending on something that is consumable (like a rocket launch) is not a capital expenditure. A capital expenditure is when you buy something whose value slowly decreases with time. If a factory buys a building for $10MM, it isn't any poorer. Yes, it has $10MM less in the bank, but it also has a building worth $10MM. As the building loses value with time the factory gets poorer: it's that loss of value…

A starlink launch takes lots of money but results in dozens of new satellites in orbit that in theory could be sold to some other company looking to create an internet constellation. That doesn’t seem that different from a factory where it takes money to build the factory, but then the factory can, in theory be sold. Yes the launch disappears, but the thing the launch did doesn’t.

Post by mrguyorama » Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 7:52 PM UTC

Laremere wrote: post #10

stephenitis wrote: post #3

Is there a way for a mortal to buy or invest into SpaceX or are we just waiting for an IPO eventually?

Go work for them on a position that has equity as part of the compensation. Otherwise, I doubt it. Elon has been pretty vocal about regretting making Tesla public. Additionally SpaceX as a company is oriented around putting humans on mars. Until that happens, I expect a supermajority of ownership would be against the profit seeking motives that an IPO creates. Short of investing in them, you could look for companies…

Post by jve » Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 7:52 PM UTC

bell-cot wrote: post #35

From Reuters... > In 2022, revenue doubled to $4.6 billion, helping the company reduce its loss last year to $559 million from $968 million, the WSJ reported. > The company reported about $5.2 billion in total expenses for 2022, up from $3.3 billion the year earlier, according to the report. That $5.2B of expenses got 61 successful, production Falcon rocket launches in 2022. Vs. some pretty-reasonable estimates put t…

Post by justapassenger » Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 7:52 PM UTC

bell-cot wrote: post #49

hef19898 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hold on, they have an evaliation of 150 billion , more than 30x the revenue?

The current P/E ratio for the S&P 500 (growing far more slowly, obviously) is ~25. By many historical metrics, the stock markets are insanely overvalued these days. Far too much cash in the system, bidding up the "values" of anything that remotely resembles an investment.

Post by mrguyorama » Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 7:54 PM UTC

didibus wrote: post #33

mcpackieh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talk of putting people on Mars is how they recruit young idealistic engineers. I think to understand what SpaceX is actually about you need to understand who Michael Griffin is and what he's all about. He went with Musk when he tried to buy an ICBM from Russia; he conceived of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program and gave the contract to SpaceX, before SpaceX had ever put anything into orbit. Ditto the Commerc…

> During this time, he met entrepreneur Elon Musk and accompanied him on a trip to Russia > In December 2008, with SpaceX again on the verge of bankruptcy, Griffin awarded SpaceX along with his own Orbital Sciences company each contracts with a combined value of $3.5 billion It's crazy how nepotism is still such an important aspect of success today. It's very likely had they never known each other, SpaceX would not e…