• is SpaceX OK?

    From JF Mezei@21:1/5 to All on Sat Dec 4 22:42:18 2021
    This week, Musk warned of possible bankruptcy if teams couldn't finish
    design and ramp up Raptor 2 production ,and one senior VP was fired.

    Everyone knows that Starship is just a hobby right now. Bringing up the
    word "bankruptcy" stains the reputation of the whole compamy and a hobby
    should not endanger the company. You stop buying Falcon9 launches if
    you are not sure the compamy will still be around at time of your
    scheduled launch.

    If a company warns of "bankruptcy", it shouldn't be starting to build
    new launch pads/stage 0 in Florida when its first one isn't complete
    yet, let alone having had first launch and landing.

    Starship is a bigger project than anyone has ever done before let alone
    a compamy the size of SpaxeX. Such projects always take longer than
    expected and cost much more than expected. And with iterative design,
    there is still uncertainty whether it will work since the final design
    is not published (and perhaps there is no final design yet)

    This past week's warning is sign that money may run out because project
    takiung longer than expected. Considering the project is nowhere near
    finished, this is worrysome. And the last thing Musk should have done is
    spread uncertainty about viability of not only the proejct but the whole company.


    I would assume Shotwell was busy with damage control with investors this
    week. But the cat is out of the bag: the msssage was sent that the
    project is at risk of failure.


    It is significant though that Musk's message was spefific to Raptor
    engines because that is the one component of value that could be spun
    off into consortium with Boeihg or others. The Boca Chica plant might be
    sold and retasked to build grain silos, but that isn't high value.

    Putting SpaceX in jeoperdy will likely have reverberations within NASA
    who would start planning for a plan B should spaceX falter.

    Irrespective of reality of finances, it was extremely dumb of Musk to
    use the word "bankruptcy" in any communications.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Snidely@21:1/5 to JF Mezei on Sat Dec 4 23:27:05 2021
    On Saturday or thereabouts, JF Mezei asked ...
    This week, Musk warned of possible bankruptcy if teams couldn't finish
    design and ramp up Raptor 2 production ,and one senior VP was fired.

    Everyone knows that Starship is just a hobby right now. Bringing up the
    word "bankruptcy" stains the reputation of the whole compamy and a hobby should not endanger the company. You stop buying Falcon9 launches if
    you are not sure the compamy will still be around at time of your
    scheduled launch.

    If a company warns of "bankruptcy", it shouldn't be starting to build
    new launch pads/stage 0 in Florida when its first one isn't complete
    yet, let alone having had first launch and landing.

    Starship is a bigger project than anyone has ever done before let alone
    a compamy the size of SpaxeX. Such projects always take longer than
    expected and cost much more than expected. And with iterative design,
    there is still uncertainty whether it will work since the final design
    is not published (and perhaps there is no final design yet)

    This past week's warning is sign that money may run out because project takiung longer than expected. Considering the project is nowhere near finished, this is worrysome. And the last thing Musk should have done is spread uncertainty about viability of not only the proejct but the whole company.


    I would assume Shotwell was busy with damage control with investors this week. But the cat is out of the bag: the msssage was sent that the
    project is at risk of failure.


    It is significant though that Musk's message was spefific to Raptor
    engines because that is the one component of value that could be spun
    off into consortium with Boeihg or others. The Boca Chica plant might be
    sold and retasked to build grain silos, but that isn't high value.

    Putting SpaceX in jeoperdy will likely have reverberations within NASA
    who would start planning for a plan B should spaceX falter.

    Irrespective of reality of finances, it was extremely dumb of Musk to
    use the word "bankruptcy" in any communications.

    Don't expect SpaceX to go bankrupt. Don't expect big shock waves to
    ripple through the markets because of the email. And even more, don't
    equate "bankruptcy" with "disappearing". Certainly didn't mean that
    for GM.

    /dps

    --
    "I'm glad unicorns don't ever need upgrades."
    "We are as up as it is possible to get graded!"
    _Phoebe and Her Unicorn_, 2016.05.15

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JF Mezei@21:1/5 to Snidely on Mon Dec 6 02:21:23 2021
    On 2021-12-05 02:27, Snidely wrote:

    Don't expect SpaceX to go bankrupt. Don't expect big shock waves to
    ripple through the markets because of the email. And even more, don't
    equate "bankruptcy" with "disappearing". Certainly didn't mean that
    for GM.


    Chapter 11 generally (almost always) involves existing shareholders
    seeing their shares either voided or highly diluted. (they are
    unsecured creditors)

    So if the project is late and needs more capital (as is common for such
    a large project), any new investor, fearing bankruptcy, will only invest
    in form of secured bonds with strict restrictions which will cost SpaceX
    more.

    Here is an example:
    When Bombardier ran out of funds because its C-Series (and other
    projects) was late, various portions of the compay were recapitalized
    without going through formal canadian equivalent to Chapter 11 (called
    CCAA).

    The "Transportation" division (trains) was spun off into a separate
    company, and new shares issued to Caisse de Dépôt du Québec (CDPQ)
    (pension find) in exchange for a few billions of $. There was a caveat:
    the money losing division had to provide garanteed dividends on the shares.

    Bombardier, still struggling to survive, could not afford to buy back
    the shares issued to CDPQ. And it could not afford to continue paying dividends, so its only option was to sell the company to Alstom ( a deal conveniently arranged by CDPQ who then negotiated a stake in Alstom
    which made it its largest shareholder).


    One never jokes about bankruptcy with a public company because it hurts
    the company's ability to raise capital and then ability to exist as
    independant company.

    What Musk did was shout to the world of potential investors is that he
    is no longer siure he can see the project to completion.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Snidely@21:1/5 to All on Mon Dec 6 01:09:34 2021
    JF Mezei used thar keyboard to writen:

    What Musk did was shout to the world of potential investors is that he
    is no longer siure he can see the project to completion.

    You're welcome to bet on that. I wouldn't.

    /dps

    --
    Ieri, oggi, domani

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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