New Delhi: Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk on Sunday dismissed reports that SpaceX is seeking to raise $800 billion or that the company receives subsidies from NASA.
The Wall Street Journal had reported that SpaceX was preparing a secondary share sale that would value the company at $800 billion, overtaking OpenAI to become the most valuable private firm in the US.
“There has been a lot of press claiming @SpaceX is raising money at $800B, which is not accurate. SpaceX has been cash flow positive for many years and does periodic stock buybacks twice a year to provide liquidity for employees and investors,” Musk said in a series of posts on X.
He added that changes in valuation were linked to progress on Starship and Starlink, along with securing global direct-to-cell spectrum, which significantly expands the company’s potential market.
“And one other thing that is arguably most significant by far,” he said.
Musk also noted that while he has great respect for NASA, “they will constitute less than 5 per cent of our revenue next year”.
“Commercial Starlink is by far our largest contributor to revenue. Some people have claimed that SpaceX gets ‘subsidised' by NASA. This is absolutely false,” he said.
“The SpaceX team won the NASA contracts because we offered the best product at the lowest price. BOTH best product AND lowest cost. With regard to astronaut transport, SpaceX is currently the only option that passes NASA safety standards,” he added.
SpaceX last week launched 28 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, with the reusable first-stage booster returning 8.5 minutes after liftoff. It marked the company’s 156th Falcon 9 mission of the year. Thousands of Starlink satellites are now in orbit.
(Inputs from IANS)