What SpaceX’s Numbers Do and Don’t Tell Us

The mysteries of SpaceX are no more.

My colleague Cory Weinberg today wrote https://www.theinformation.com/articles/new-spacex-numbers-show-reliance-starlink?rc=9byxri">the second of https://www.theinformation.com/articles/spacex-posted-nearly-5-billion-loss-last-year-ai-spending?rc=9byxri">two stories in four days that pulled back the curtain on the finances of Elon Musk’s space company, which is planning to go public in a couple of months.

You don’t have to wait for the formal IPO filing to get the dirt on SpaceX.

The bottom line is that SpaceX as a whole is a money pit, although one of its businesses is not.

The Starlink satellite-based internet access business is doing well—it generated $7.2 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization last year.

But neither the rocket launch business nor SpaceX’s xAI is producing cash.

The AI business is the biggest money-loser, but that’s not surprising given how costly AI development is.