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SpaceX posted revenue of $14.58 billion for the third quarter of 2026, a 161 percent increase on the $5.6 billion recorded in the same period a year earlier, the company announced on 20 October. Net profit for the July–September period reached $4.4 billion, ending more than a year of reported losses, according to DW, which cited the results.
Analysts had forecast revenue of $12.72 billion and net profit of roughly $2 billion, making the actual figures a significant beat on both measures. Following the release of the results, the company’s shares rose nearly 4 percent in after-hours trading.
Reuters noted that the Starlink satellite network and other communications projects have become a primary financial pillar for SpaceX, with that business also helping to fund Musk’s ambitions in artificial intelligence.
The company’s AI segment recorded revenue growth of more than ninefold, reaching $7.6 billion, though the source text notes that the bulk of that increase came from leasing cloud computing capacity rather than from the company’s own AI products. Its Grok chatbot, for instance, has not yet established a leading position against competitors.
The AI segment is also consuming capital at a substantial rate. Of SpaceX’s total capital expenditure of $19.6 billion — nearly three times the prior year’s figure — $16.4 billion was directed toward that division. The company said it expects expenditure to remain at a similar level in the near term.
Share pledge for American children
On 19 October, one day before the earnings release, Musk posted on his X social network that he intends to give one SpaceX share to every child in the United States in 2027. He described the move as the first in a series of such distributions but did not explain how the programme would be implemented.
Based on the company’s valuation at the time of the post, the total value of such a distribution was estimated at approximately $10.7 billion, according to figures cited in the source report.
Musk made the announcement one day after separately stating his intention to direct at least 5 percent of Anthropic’s shares to a public-interest fund. That stake, valued at roughly $48 billion in the most recent assessment, could be used for charitable donations to non-profit organisations or direct payments to certain segments of the population, the source text states.