SpaceX announced its financial results on Tuesday, October 20th, reporting a net profit of $4.4 billion for the third quarter, marking the company’s first profitable quarter since its IPO in June. According to the financial report released by the rocket and artificial intelligence (AI) company led by Elon Musk, it recorded operating profits of $2.8 billion and a net profit of $4.4 billion in the months of July to September. CNBC reported that SpaceX’s third-quarter revenue was $145.8 billion, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $127.2 billion according to LSEG’s survey.
In the quarter following its IPO on August 4th, SpaceX had reported a net loss of $541 million for the second quarter. CNBC mentioned that SpaceX’s profitability mainly came from its Starlink satellite network business, with the AI business turning a profit of $431 million this quarter, while the space division incurred a loss of $7 million. Apart from Starlink, SpaceX’s portfolio includes the AI departments operating chatbot Grok and social platform X.
During the financial conference call on the same day, Musk expressed expectations for the company’s revenue to continue growing. He stated that by the end of 2027, SpaceX’s annual recurring revenue could range between $500 billion and $1 trillion. The company’s revenue so far this year has been approximately $27 billion.
As per The Washington Post, senior SpaceX executives believe that the company’s significant investments in AI and Starlink will drive customer growth. Musk’s plans also involve constructing data centers in space and establishing a colony on Mars.
SpaceX went public on June 12th on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SPCX, with an initial public offering (IPO) price of $135 per share. The Washington Post had previously reported that SpaceX had accumulated losses of $13 billion since early 2023.