SpaceX Posts First Profit as a Public Company as Musk Confirms Talks on a Possible Tesla Merger

NEW YORK, Oct. 20 (TodayViralUSA) — SpaceX reported its first quarterly profit since going public on Tuesday, powered by a near tenfold jump in revenue from its artificial intelligence business, and Elon Musk confirmed for the first time that SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees to discuss combining the two companies.

“I think it would be a good idea, but it’s really up to the special committees of both companies,” Musk told investors on a conference call, Reuters reported. He said that because he is a conflicted party, he cannot take part in the committees’ discussions, and that shareholders would ultimately have to approve any deal. SpaceX shares rose in extended trading after the remarks.

AI becomes the biggest business

Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 climbed 161% from a year earlier to $14.6 billion, according to the company’s earnings release. SpaceX swung to net income of $4.4 billion from a net loss of $1.1 billion a year ago, and adjusted EBITDA rose to $8.8 billion from $2.2 billion.

The company’s Super Intelligence segment, which includes its Grok models, the X platform and a fast-growing data-center operation, brought in $7.6 billion, up from $813 million a year earlier, making it SpaceX’s largest business line. The company credited new cloud services agreements, greater adoption of Grok and its acquisition of AI coding company Cursor, which closed on Aug. 14. Reuters reported that most of the AI revenue came from renting data-center capacity to developers rather than from SpaceX’s own models.

The segment posted operating income of $431 million, compared with a loss of $1.7 billion a year earlier. Spending remains heavy: SpaceX put $16.4 billion of its $19.6 billion in third-quarter capital expenditures into AI infrastructure, and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said the company expects $35 billion to $40 billion in capital spending in the fourth quarter, according to Reuters.

Starlink and Starship

Connectivity revenue, driven by the Starlink satellite internet service, grew 69% to $5.2 billion. Starlink ended the quarter with 13.6 million consumer subscribers, up 1.6 million from the prior quarter, while average monthly revenue per consumer subscriber was $69 as the service expands into markets with cheaper plans.

Space segment revenue rose 6% to $1.8 billion. The company said it flew its first revenue-generating Starship mission during the quarter, delivering 26 next-generation Starlink satellites to orbit, and announced plans for a new Starship spaceport in Louisiana targeted to begin launches in 2029.

Musk closed his prepared remarks by saying SpaceX’s annual recurring revenue could reach between $500 billion and $1 trillion by the end of 2027, Reuters reported. Johnsen reiterated a target of about $100 billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of this year.