The founding process
It is said that Musk has a space dream.
In 2012, he proposed a plan to colonize Mars, which he would land on in 2025.
Image credit: Pexels
Through internet entrepreneurship, Musk became a billionaire at the age of thirty. But PayPal has not competed with Alipay in China. There was a big god who pointed out that if Musk wrote his name backwards, perhaps PayPal still have a chance to come back to life.
In 2002, he went to the Russians to talk about buying rockets, and was ruthlessly ridiculed. On the plane back home, he made a demonstration and plan with his companions, and decided to build his own rocket. In the same year, Musk founded SpaceX with the aura of a PayPal founder.
Image source: Visual China
Tesla was founded in 2003, and Musk became Tesla's CEO in 2004. For him, the genius is the biggest dream, and Tesla is only responsible for providing the dream fund.
Corporate business
SpaceX has achieved achievements that many national space agencies have not achieved. In 2008, it designed, built and launched the world's first privately funded orbital-stage liquid-fueled rocket, Falcon 1. In 2010, the Cargo Dragon spacecraft was successfully sent into low Earth orbit for the first time and recovered.
In 2012, the Cargo Dragon spacecraft was used to transport cargo for the International Space Station, which was also the first commercially operated cargo spacecraft in history. In December 2015, the Falcon 9 First Class Booster successfully landed for recovery and was successfully recovered at sea the following year.
In 2016, a spaceX rocket launch failed, and Zuckerberg's satellite for African communications was blown up, which Zach jr. expressed great disappointment. But now Musk also has something to say, I blew up the Facebook satellite, shut you Meta something.
In March 2017, SpaceX reused the Falcon 9 launch vehicle booster for the first time and successfully landed for recovery again, making the Falcon 9 the first liquid-fueled rocket that could be reused multiple times. In February 2018, SpaceX used the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle to send Musk's Tesla Roadster into a ground-fire transfer orbit, the first private company to launch an object into deep space heliocentric orbit, and the rocket became the largest rocket in service and the largest reusable rocket in history.
In 2019, SpaceX began building the massive low-orbit network satellite system Starlink, and in January 2020 became the world's largest commercial satellite operator. StarLink is a satellite network project of SpaceX. From 2019 to 2024, SpaceX plans to use five years to send thousands of satellites needed for networking into low-Earth orbit to form a "starlink" network to provide network services. To date, the Starlink network has launched more than 1,700 satellites.
In May 2020, SpaceX became the first company in history to achieve orbital-level manned spaceflight, and in November of the same year, SpaceX Manned 1 sent the first four passengers to the International Space Station, marking the beginning of commercial spaceflight. Today, SpaceX has the ability to manufacture, launch, recover, and reuse launch vehicles, and can launch manned spacecraft and satellite systems into various orbits, which can be regarded as the world's premier private space enterprise.
Musk's bold words often ignite the enthusiasm of some engineering and science fiction enthusiasts. On the Little Blue Jays, an avid fan of Musk created a sketch portrait for him, and Musk himself encouraged him fiercely through private messages.
Image source: Twitter
This portrait cannot be said to be different, but can only be said to be exactly the same.
Company valuation
Since August 2008, SpaceX has conducted a total of seventeen rounds of funding. The main investors are Bank of America, Google, Craft Ventures, NASA, Valor Equity Partners and others.
SpaceX's valuation is currently not accurately concluded. On December 30, 2021, SpaceX disclosed that it had received a round of investment of $337 million, and the company's actual valuation had exceeded $100 billion. Back in October 2021, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said spaceX was expected to value SpaceX at $200 billion in 2022 under the bull market assumptions.
Financial Position
SpaceX is not yet listed, so there are no details of the financial situation. The Wall Street Journal disclosed SpaceX's financial position in 2011-2015.
SpaceX saw significant growth in 2014 as NASA outsourced its near-Earth orbit operations to SpaceX that year. The company's total revenue reached $1 billion, a 47% increase from 2013 revenue. But in 2015, SpaceX experienced significant operating losses due to the Falcon 9 explosion in June.
In 2015, SpaceX originally planned to successfully launch 10 rockets, but finally reduced to 6. As a result, many of SpaceX's customers are also considering launching satellites from their competitors. In 2016, for example, two customers, Inmarsat and Guardian, turned to France's Arianespace to launch their satellites.
The Wall Street Journal pointed out that after the Falcon 9 explosion in September 2016, SpaceX revenue may once again be lower than previously expected: SpaceX's revenue in 2016 was expected to be $1.8 billion before the explosion, and operating profit was $55 million, which may be difficult to meet expectations after the explosion. Because this estimate comes from the first half of 2016, when 20 rockets were planned to be launched in 2016, the reality is that SpaceX launched only 8 rockets in 2016.
In 2018, unconfirmed gossip pointed out that as of December 2017, SpaceX had successfully operated more than 40 commercial launches, in addition to nearly 40 signed operational orders waiting in line for launches, with signed contracts worth more than $5 billion. In 2017, SpaceX's revenue is expected to exceed $1.8 billion, and the company still has more than $1 billion in cash on its books, with no debt.
On January 11, 2019, SpaceX announced that it would lay off 10% of its workforce, meaning that about 577 employees were facing layoffs. The layoff list includes production managers, avionics technicians, mechanics, inventory specialists and propulsion technicians — which has left followers with questions about SpaceX's finances.
In October 2020, Morgan Stanley analysts built a new valuation model that took into account the improvement in expected cash flow brought about by favorable factors such as satellite upgrades, technological advances such as satellite upgrades, inter-satellite links (JSLs), lower terminal costs, and higher terminal growth rates, and starLink is expected to be profitable around 2030.
Listing rumors
There is a lot of debate about whether SpaceX will go public. Musk said in 2013 that he would not consider going public with SpaceX because the company's stock price volatility would distract employees, and Tesla and SolarCity listings were "no other choice."
But lately, Musk seems optimistic about SpaceX's listing. He has repeatedly said that once the company's cash flow meets expectations, SpaceX's StarLink will go public. Many investors are looking forward to this.
What do the bullfighters think about the tech maniac Musk and his obsession with going from surface madness to space? SpaceX, a quirky commercial company, are you optimistic about its commercial value?
Risk Warning: The views of the authors or guests shown above have their own specific positions, and investment decisions need to be based on independent thinking. Futu will endeavour, but cannot guarantee, the accuracy and reliability of the above and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from any inaccuracies or omissions.