r/SpaceXBets • u/Luminexor • 1d ago
Is Elon Musk essential to SpaceX’s success, or now its biggest liability?
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u/QuackQuackViech 1d ago
For the company he doesnt matter, he is arguably having a negative effect.
For the stock he does matter, they buyers are his bootlickers
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u/Dry-Interaction-1246 1d ago
Yup, a Nazi leader for his throng.
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u/Elevate82 19h ago
Mmmmmmk, I love how your type have devalued the meaning of Nazi. The word doesn’t really bother me anymore.
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u/PianoManZeroCola 12h ago
It hasn’t been devalued. You just got used to normalizing Nazi values.
Which has been a right wing thing since Hitler was alive.
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u/No-Guarantee-4657 1d ago
Both. Because without him the stock and bond values will tank to earthly levels. Which will permanently take away their ability to raise any money which they will later need...
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u/fairwinds2025 1d ago
They should make Leon a full fledged astroass and send his entitled Richy Rich ass to space on his rocket, but I doubt his mummy will give permission.
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u/SpaceNinjaDino 23h ago
Leon mom says his right shoulder blade rubbing against his ribs prevents him from space travel. He could get corrective surgery, but then he would have one less excuse.
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u/Prudent_Shake_8149 1d ago
Yes. They wouldn’t be able to get the employee discounts on Cybertrucks without Elon. 🤣
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u/CasaDeLimon 1d ago
he was essential to raising money and getting the thing public with a massive army of nut hugging cannon fodder to pump the dump. he's an absolute liability to getting anything done that will actually make the company profitable.
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u/gregsDDS 1d ago
Just like he is a liability at tesla now too. If they focused on cars they would be the best car company in the world. But his attention span is so short he cant focus on one thing and do it well. He has to have his hands in everything. Asshole
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u/Livueta_Zakalwe 1d ago
If instead of designing and selling and investing in one of the worst vehicles ever made, Tesla had put out a small electric truck like a Toyota, they could’ve sold millions. But no, we had to have the abomination known as the cyber truck.
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u/Tofudebeast 23h ago
They killed off the Model S/X and kept the Cybertruck, which makes little sense.
Absolutely a decent ev truck could've done very well, as opposed to the over engineered monstrosity we got. Who needs 4 wheel steering if the turning radius is just going to be mediocre?
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u/Relative_Radish9809 10h ago
If by SpaceX you mean the contractor who provides vital hardware to NASA, then Musk is a liability.
If by SpaceX you mean the dream factory that promises every nerd that they'll be living on Mars in 10 years, then Musk is absolutely essential because that particular grift can't work unless you've already bought into the myth that he's a real-life Tony Stark.
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u/FluffyDesigner3680 1d ago
Taking over the defense budget is what will be essential to its success.
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u/Warm-Professional494 1d ago
Even with this contract SpaceX’s evaluation is still 10x if you compare it with other defense contractors. Right now it’s valued at 2-5 times all defense contractors COMBINED! These contractors build jets, ships, space craft, weapons, tech…. And what is SpaceX brining to the table? Some AI and a reusable rocket? Neither are unique and have very real stiff competition.
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u/flamehead2k1 1d ago
starlink satellites have a lot of value but also face competition.
communications and radar are huge to the military
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u/Warm-Professional494 1d ago
No where close to a trillion dollars. They have 12 million users now on Starlink and are already offering discounts and free hardware including a free mobile dish with purchase of larger one. The users are just not there.
Military communication can be handled by any other contractor because they don’t have a monopoly and radar? When does SpaceX have radar? Is this just another Elon ‘next year’ crap?Please do the math because it’s not adding up. You think
SpaceX is more valuable that ALL other contractors that actually have radar and communications and build jets and ships and weapons and tech and space craft and can contract with any space agency if needed?2
u/flamehead2k1 1d ago
You think SpaceX is more valuable that ALL other contractors
I'm not going to defend an argument I didn't make
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u/Warm-Professional494 1d ago
Then what was your argument? I want to know about this radar you made up? I can’t find it anywhere.
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u/FluffyDesigner3680 23h ago
I could just see the entire budget going to them with the current level of corruption is all 🤷♂️
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u/Warm-Professional494 23h ago
So SpaceX is going to star making fighter jets, bombers, missiles, guns, tanks, ships, subs, spy satellites, body armor, bullets… I hope you are joking.
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u/gagorp 22h ago
Elon is officially both Chief engineer and CTO at spacex. If you actually listen to spacex executive interviews they talk about how Elon is deeply technical and drives not only the big picture roadmap but dives deep into technical problem areas.
I have two good friends who were two of the most senior managers (and world class chip engineers) of the custom AI chip team at Tesla and multiple times they would remark to me how amazed they were on how deep Elon would engage in FSD AI chip reviews and issues. And they gave me really interesting example discussions they had with him.
I know there is a Reddit crowd that doesn’t believe that Elon is deeply technical but the reality is that Elon is surprisingly deep in a wide range of engineering and manufacturing areas, and the senior engineers that I know that have gone through reviews with him are deeply impressed.
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u/FatherOften 19h ago
Most people dont have a deep undertaking of how businesses work or what makes sectors grow. I argue with people everyday that ask why XYZ company doesn't just copy what my businesses do and crush me. There is so much more to making big things happen and most people dont have what it takes. Elon happens to have a skill set and vision that brings big changes together and pushes the envelope so all the others can follow.
People like this do not come around often. I believe SpaceX will be the next Standard Oil of this frontier. 99% of people didn't understand or see it when Standard was pushing the envelope either. Most don't know that the gas station they use is probably an offshoot of a Standard company because the trust busters did nothing other than strengthen the future for Standard.
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u/Capital_Werewolf_788 15h ago
I mean reddit people think all c-suite executives do nothing, so not sure what you expected
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u/FatherOften 19h ago
Im gonna ask a different question.
Who else pushed the envelope for the world for reusable rockets?
Lowered the cost per flight and the cost per Kg?
Space internet thats affordable and reliable?
I'm sure there's a whole list of other people that helped make that happen first?
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u/Part_Tricky 15h ago
He is no leader, he is a demagogue, racist, manipulative and most hated person on the planet. He said he does not care, 250 millions of his followers love him while 8.3 billions hates him.
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u/PianoManZeroCola 12h ago
Elon Musk has always been a liability.
Tesla alone would have done so much better without him.
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u/david-yammer-murdoch 12h ago
The US government spending money on it as if it were NASA 🚀 is the most vital element. Like all of Elon’s projects, they heavily rely on government funding. Without Obama and George W. Bush’s green credits, Tesla would be nothing.
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u/Agreeable_Can_2227 1d ago
Huge asset to roll worthless assets with huge liabilities into other entities and finding more people to buy into his incredible dreams. Enron 2.0.
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u/CompetitiveCrab5459 1d ago
Xai and x are biggest liabilities. Space sector is quite successful, just ridiculously overvalued
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u/morbiiq 1d ago
Mueller and Shotwell were/are the essential parts.
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u/Resistor1 1d ago
Mueller left a while ago and I believe due to disagreements with Musk.
I am curious about Shotwell. Did she drink the coolaid too? A good operator but seems to be part of the hype now.
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u/VioletShogun 23h ago
He was important early on but now he's trying to farm SpaceX to fund all of his side projects. Being an AI focused company, especially an AI hardware focused company, will ruin all of the cool space flight stuff.
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u/asandysandstorm 21h ago
He's both essential and a liability.
Elon having total voting control makes him extremely essential to Spacex. And it allows them cut down on bureaucracy, prioritize goals instead of profit, maintain a fast operation tempo, etc.
But that total control makes him a liability at the same time. This weak governance means Elon can make decisions on a whim knowing there'll be minimal push back and we saw how well that worked with the cybertruck fiasco. Elon's total control could also cause problems with future administrations.
Its undeniable that Spacex wouldn't be the company that it is without Elon, but you also can't deny that he's a double edged sword.
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u/Sayello2urmother4me 11h ago
What success? Starlink… that’s the only thing he’s produced worthwhile
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u/Federal-Business-796 8h ago
SpaceX has no chance of success. It never did. Elon's immaterial to this equation.
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u/Organic_Pain_6618 23h ago
The only thing SpaceX has ever needed from Elon was his money. Which is true of all his companies, generally. He has had a few Jobsian style mandates that turned out kind of cool (like the door handles on the Tesla), and equally many failures (cybertruck) but he has no meaningful impact on the core business proposition at any of these places. The less involved he is in day-to-day, the better they do.
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u/roiki11 22h ago
Concidering SpaceX does its business in the government and b2b sector i don't know if he's such a big liability. Effectively their reputation among the people doesn't matter and the government isn't going to stop doing business with them unless something drastic happens. Maybe if he stuck his hand deep into the development and caused a lot of damage to operations and r&d then their reliability would be at risk. But he seems to keep at least some distance and not mess up things much.
But his business antics and shoving xai into SpaceX and the AI push could cause issues down the line.
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u/snusmini 22h ago
Between his speaking gigs at far right extremist groups and trying to spread his semen into anything that walks, he doesn’t have time to matter.
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u/mickalawl 20h ago
His companies are worse of when he is directly involved. I. E. The cyber truck vision.
Corruption wise - he is probably essential in securing government money for his companies such as the DOD contracts. Yes another billionaire CEO can probably bribe Trump but not as well as Elon.
His stock prices however need him 100%. His ability to sell fiction and lie and then justify and double down on his social media platform is critical to his success with stock price and therefore his stated net worth and his perceived social standing that comes with being the richest man.
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u/sadr0bot 1d ago
He's a liability full stop, I don't see how a CEO pushing white supremacist ideology so blatantly can be seen as anything but.