SpaceX investor's thread

[futureproof]

Yes right now it's coming together very nicely.

Now, how about that IPO at a lowish valuation? I'm first in line

I wish. I'm thinking they will IPO when they are fully rapid and reusable with a full schedule on flights to Hilton's moon resort! Hope I can buy in before 2035

 

[Sanny]

Pardon my ignorance, bu how do you evaluate a private company before buying? Does it publish any information about financials? How do you set the price goal shares?

 

[fruehling]

Is it not allowed for an employee of SpaceX to transfer any of their shares to another party?

 

[Cosmacelf]

SpaceX is a closely held private company. As such, it isn't obligated to publish any financials. It is also possible that current shareholders have an agreement with the company to not allow any unauthorized selling of their shares.

 

[fruehling]

It is also possible that current shareholders have an agreement with the company to not allow any unauthorized selling of their shares.

This. So it could be possible, if not explicitly disallowed? I know someone who is a contractor there. I'll see if he can find out anything. He did tell me that the internal valuation of the shares is around $40.

 

[ElSupreme]

This. So it could be possible, if not explicitly disallowed? I know someone who is a contractor there. I'll see if he can find out anything. He did tell me that the internal valuation of the shares is around $40.

As far as I know most/all employee owned companies explicitly forbid non-employees from owning stock.

 

[fruehling]

As far as I know most/all employee owned companies explicitly forbid non-employees from owning stock.

So what happens in the event of an employee's death? The stock is an asset owned by the employee, isn't it? Are you saying it would revert to the company? Same thing if the employee seeks other employment? Or are you saying that the company forces a buy back in both instances at the valuation I mentioned above?

 

[Cosmacelf]

First of all, does SpaceX even have employee stock options?

If it does, it is common for private companies to have clauses that indeed allow the company to buy back any shares in event of employee terminating their employment, or death, etc. And yes, the price is set by the board, since there is no public market.

 

[ElSupreme]

So what happens in the event of an employee's death? The stock is an asset owned by the employee, isn't it? Are you saying it would revert to the company? Same thing if the employee seeks other employment? Or are you saying that the company forces a buy back in both instances at the valuation I mentioned above?

Yes, in my employee owned company upon my death the Company purchases my stock immediately and pays the cash to my benefactor. Upon retirement the company purchases my stock immediately. Upon my leaving the company I have agreed (as part of the employee ownership paperwork) to sell my shares to the company upon leaving. The company has up to 5 years to provide me the value of those shares. And they owe me the value when they pay (so I own 'ghost shares'). But it is very explicit that non-employees can not own shares under any circumstance. And that employees may not sell shares to other employees.

I am not sure every employee owned company is that way, but I believe that most have employment as a strict requirement.

 

[fruehling]

That all makes sense. Thanks for the info. Guess no more barking up that tree.

 

[Johan]

Interview on CNBC now with Elon:

"The time horizon for SpaceX is to long for the company to go public"

"Fund pension managers tenure is shorter than our time horizon"

"Some investors have a long term horizon, but a bunch have short horizons"

"Stock price is a distraction to the employees"

"We need to get to where thing are steady and predictable, flown the Mars vehicle a few times, then we can go public"

"I'm hopeful that the first people could be taken to Mars in 10-12 years"

"Long term we need a self-sustaining city on Mars. Becoming a multi-planetery species"

 

[c041v]

Yes, in my employee owned company upon my death the Company purchases my stock immediately and pays the cash to my benefactor. Upon retirement the company purchases my stock immediately. Upon my leaving the company I have agreed (as part of the employee ownership paperwork) to sell my shares to the company upon leaving. The company has up to 5 years to provide me the value of those shares. And they owe me the value when they pay (so I own 'ghost shares'). But it is very explicit that non-employees can not own shares under any circumstance. And that employees may not sell shares to other employees.

I am not sure every employee owned company is that way, but I believe that most have employment as a strict requirement.

Mine's bascially the same with the only difference being that shares are sold off over a period of 5 years after retirement rather than in one lot to prevent a flood of shares.

Johan - Thanks for the notes, link to the interview?

 

[Johan]

Johan - Thanks for the notes, link to the interview?

Happening right now on CNBC: CNBC - Watch Free Online: Live & DVR - Giniko

 

[anticitizen13.7]

Interview on CNBC now with Elon:

"The time horizon for SpaceX is to long for the company to go public"

"Fund pension managers tenure is shorter than our time horizon"

"Some investors have a long term horizon, but a bunch have short horizons"

"Stock price is a distraction to the employees"

"We need to get to where thing are steady and predictable, flown the Mars vehicle a few times, then we can go public"

"I'm hopeful that the first people could be taken to Mars in 10-12 years"

"Long term we need a self-sustaining city on Mars. Becoming a multi-planetery species"

As much as I would like to purchase SpaceX shares on NASDAQ, I have to agree with Elon. Investor pressure can be a pain to deal with.

11 years to Mars and 5 more years to get a steady flow of traffic back and forth… I'd not expect an IPO until 2030-2035 at the earliest, if ever.

 

[MikeC]

With Google and Fidelity owning about 10% of SpaceX now, does that make GOOGL a partial proxy for SpaceX?

 

[Cosmacelf]

With Google and Fidelity owning about 10% of SpaceX now, does that make GOOGL a partial proxy for SpaceX?

Yes, but GOOG market cap is $343B. Their investment in SpaceX is worth $1B. Unless SpaceX gets a lot more valuable, like 20x its current valuation of $10B, then it won't move the needle much on GOOG stock.

 

[Johan]

Omg SpaceX. If you haven't yet seen this, the interior if Dragon, you have to:

What they're doing design wise here is such a big thing that it's hard to grasp. The step change in thinking of what space travel should be and look like is just so big. Literally SpaceX is the first company in the next generation of space travel. The will be so big in the 21st century I think a lot of people underestimate this by one or several orders of magnitude.

I need to get in as an investor. Anyone heard anything about possible routes?

 

[EchoDelta]

Ditto here.

If you could arrange a public talk radio interview with someone from SpaceX (not Elon) who would you like to hear from?

 

[ecarfan]

I need to get in as an investor. Anyone heard anything about possible routes?

Elon has said many times that there are no plans to take SpaceX public because the investment timeline for profits is much too long (decades). But I think the real reason is that he wants to maintain as much control as possible. I agree with him, SpaceX should not be a public company.

 

[Model 3]

What they're doing design wise here is such a big thing that it's hard to grasp. The step change in thinking of what space travel should be and look like is just so big. Literally SpaceX is the first company in the next generation of space travel. The will be so big in the 21st century I think a lot of people underestimate this by one or several orders of magnitude.

The talk about a difficult engineering to make some new (back)seats - I thought that was for Model X, not SpaceX