SpaceX Is Basically a Huge Meme Stock

(theatlantic.com)

41 points | by breve 8 hours ago ago

11 comments

  • justinclift 5 hours ago

    * https://web.archive.org/web/20260414235001/https://www.theat...

    * https://archive.md/w1p99

    Seems like a weird article though, with some inaccuracy in key data:

    > The company is in fact relatively small and losing money.

    Whereas it's widely reported to be profitable:

    https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/spacex-generated-ab...

    (many reports of that same info around)

    The article also contradicts itself later on:

    > SpaceX’s rocket-launch and satellite-internet businesses are enormously profitable near-monopolies.

    Was this article just AI generated spam? :(

    • adjejmxbdjdn 4 hours ago

      The article states right up front that they’re not profitable because of xAI’s costs.

      So there’s nothing contradictory about it.

      In the second paragraph:

      > SpaceX’s annual revenue last year was less than $20 billion, and it lost nearly $5 billion, according to a new report from The Information, mostly because of xAI’s huge capital costs.

      • peebee67 2 hours ago

        That's right. SpaceX is likely a great business on its fundamentals, and starlink is probably even better. The meme-stock part of this is that they've swept all these different business up together. I would've loved the opportunity to invest in SpaceX and starlink, but I'm not convinced the AI and other parts of the business are anything other than a landfill fire. The orbital datacentre concept is just plain nutty and in a different way than most of Elon's major undertakings. Sweeping them all in together like this just creates a serious risk that the best space company in the world will go under when the AI bubble bursts.

    • barbacoa 4 hours ago

      They are likely including xAI and the massive training costs that entails in order to make it sound like all their ventures are losing money.

      • whaleofatw2022 4 hours ago

        In fact lumping xAI in that to cause a loss likely provides some tax benefits vs putting it with Twitter/X itself

    • lp0_on_fire 2 hours ago

      The Atlantic aligns politically with people who do not align politically with Musk. It’s just red meat for their readers.

  • BobAliceInATree 5 hours ago

    There's a reason why he's trying to reserve 30% of the IPO for retail investors.

    • hampowder 5 hours ago

      please elaborate

      • killingtime74 5 hours ago

        Bagholders

        • caminante 3 hours ago

          Doesn't seem right as plenty of institutionals get cooked.

          He claims loyalty with long-term holders who trust him (read:less nagging and more license). I suspect it's also more convenient for his IR team to avoid worthless meetings with super shareholders.

      • deeviant 5 hours ago

        There are ~7 born per minute. 95% of them are retail investors.

        If you want actual reason, it's because he uses it as a money battery, i.e. funding xAI and SPACE DATA CENTERS.