So how does a company that lost about $4.9 billion last year leapfrog an automaker generating more than $22 billion in quarterly revenue? The answer has less to do with rockets than with what the rockets put into orbit.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fcc40379806990738f62af3c3e99bb0b.jpeg\")
Image source: Getty Images. Starlink is doing the heavy lifting <\/p>\n
For all the attention focused on Starship, the part of SpaceX doing the financial heavy lifting is Starlink. The connectivity segment, which is primarily Starlink, generated $11.4 billion in revenue in 2025 — up nearly 50% year over year, according to the S-1. Operating income for the segment more than doubled to $4.4 billion, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA)<\/a> jumped 86% to roughly $7.2 billion.<\/p>\n Subscriber growth is similarly impressive. Today, Starlink boasts 10.3 million subscribers across 164 countries, up from 8.9 million at the end of 2025, 4.4 million in 2024, and 2.3 million in 2023.<\/p>\n Revenue per subscriber, however, has come down — from about $99 a month in 2023 to roughly $66 in March — as cheaper plans and expansion into developing markets pull the average down. Still, the segment generated $3.3 billion in revenue in the first quarter alone, with $2.1 billion of adjusted EBITDA. Starlink, on its own, is now a major satellite business growing at an uncanny rate.<\/p>\n The headline net loss largely reflects something else. SpaceX’s newly consolidated artificial intelligence (AI)<\/a> segment, which folds in xAI following a February merger that valued the combined entity at $1.25 trillion, lost $6.4 billion in 2025 and another $2.5 billion in the first quarter. SpaceX said in the S-1 that it expects to begin deploying orbital AI compute satellites “as early as 2028.”<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n Tesla, meanwhile, is in transition <\/p>\n The contrast with Tesla is what makes the comparison interesting. The electric vehicle and energy company just emerged from its first year of annual revenue decline, with 2025 sales falling for the first time in its history as a public company. First-quarter results in 2026 showed revenue rising 16% to $22.4 billion, but deliveries of 358,023 missed expectations, and management told investors that capital expenditures would climb above $25 billion this year, largely to fund AI compute and upcoming products like the Cybercab.<\/p>\n So while Tesla is plowing record sums into projects that won’t generate meaningful revenue until 2027 or later, the market is being asked to size up a SpaceX whose AI bets are similarly speculative but whose anchor business — satellite broadband — is already booming.<\/p>\n Notably, Musk cautioned during Tesla’s first-quarter earnings call that the company’s autonomous ride-sharing business won’t be material this year. Strip that story out, and what’s left is an automaker with a vehicle business that contracted in 2025 and an energy segment that posted a 12% revenue decline in the first quarter — a dismal business for one trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of about 400 as of this writing.<\/p>\n Ultimately, this is a useful reminder that the market is already paying a heavy multiple for stories Tesla hasn’t yet shipped at scale.<\/p>\n That same patience — the willingness to pay up today for businesses that may take years to deliver — is what SpaceX is asking the public to extend the moment it lists.<\/p>\n We just issued ‘double down’ alerts on 3 stocks \u2014 find out if\u00a0Tesla made our list <\/p>\n Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you\u2019ll want to hear this.<\/p>\n On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a \u201cDouble Down\u201d stock<\/a> recommendation\u00a0for companies that they think are about to pop. If you\u2019re worried you\u2019ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it\u2019s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:<\/p>\n Nvidia:\u00a0if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009,\u00a0you\u2019d have $557,318!*<\/p>\n Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you\u2019d have $58,766!*<\/p>\n Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you\u2019d have $472,852!*<\/p>\n Right now, we\u2019re issuing \u201cDouble Down\u201d alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join\u00a0Stock Advisor, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.<\/p>\n See the 3 stocks \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n *Stock Advisor returns as of May 26, 2026<\/p>\n Daniel Sparks<\/a> has clients with positions in Tesla. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n