SpaceX reported it lost more than half a billion dollars in its first quarterly report as a public company, but the loss was less than Wall Street expected and revenue soared. The company run by Elon Musk reported a loss of $541 million, or 9 cents per share, in the three months through June, less than half what financial analysts had expected. Revenue jumped to $7.8 billion, up more than 90% from the year-earlier period. Stock in the rocket, satellite communications, and AI company has fallen by roughly half since its June peak shortly after an initial public offering that briefly made Musk the world's first trillionaire, the AP reports.
The subsequent drop in SpaceX, as well as a decline in the shares of Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla, have knocked his wealth down to $783 billion, according to Forbes. Musk is likely to be asked during Tuesday's call about when he expects to finish testing SpaceX's giant Starship rockets that NASA hopes to use to put astronauts on the moon again, his plans for its satellite network and the prospects of putting football-field-sized data centers in orbit. Given rumors of SpaceX possibly merging with Musk's Tesla car company, he may also face questions about that tie-up, but that is likely to yield few details.
SpaceX insiders were barred from selling in the public offering in June but that prohibition begins to ease on Thursday when more than 900 million shares are released for trading, more than doubling the amount currently available for trading. The lockup release is the first of several tranches of stock that will be freed to trade over the next several months. The prospect of more supply has weighed on the shares, which closed Tuesday at $125.33, down from both the peak of $225 in June and also the IPO price of $135. Shares fell almost 7% to just below $117 in after-hours trading Tuesday after the release of the financial report.
- The Starship rocket successfully deployed satellites in space during a test late last month. Future tests could include trying to use giant arms at its Starbase launching site in Texas to grab the spacecraft and its booster upon their hovering return to earth.
- SpaceX's satellite communication business, Starlink, is a big cash generator for the company with contracts around the world. The company also runs a money-losing AI business, known for its Grok tool, as well as the social media platform X, the renamed Twitter.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
