A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is displayed at a SpaceX facility on August 04, 2026 in Hawthorne, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
SpaceX’s first quarterly earnings report since becoming a publicly traded company came with the news that it lost more than a half-billion dollars over the three months that ended in June. However, that number may be a relief to some investors following predictions that the Elon Musk-led company would lose more than twice that.
By the numbers:
SpaceX reported that revenue nearly doubled over the same period last year, surging 90% to $7.8 billion. Even with that spike, the company posted a $541 million, or 9 cents per share, loss for the quarter. The revenue numbers were revealed shortly after the trading day closed on Wall Street. SpaceX had risen 9% during the session but has since given much of that back in after-hours trading.
Big picture view:
Highlighting the earnings report was SpaceX’s "connectivity" business, which saw a 66% year-over-year rise as the number of subscribers to the company’s satellite-based internet service Starlink doubled to 12 million. When talking about the service’s potential, Musk told analysts that "It’s not out of the question that at some point, Starlink will deliver a majority of the world’s internet."
Dig deeper:
Elsewhere, SpaceX’s spending on infrastructure and R&D surged over 500% over the past year, going from less than $3 billion to $18 billion, with Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen saying those kinds of numbers are expected to continue over the next two quarters. Musk assured investors that the money spent now would allow SpaceX to reach a trillion dollars in annual revenue a year earlier than previously expected, in 2030, rather than 2031.
When asked about SpaceX’s giant Starship, Musk explained the company planned later this month to test grabbing the spacecraft and its booster with mechanical arms upon their return to their base. Starship successfully deployed satellites in a test last month.
NASA is eyeing the spacecraft for coming lunar missions. It is a challenge SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell says the company is ready for, telling investors, "we want to put boots on the ground – boots on the moon – in 2028."
The Source: Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated Press. This story was reported from Orlando.