SpaceX disclosed $13 billion in cumulative losses since 2023, a staggering number that lands right as it prepares to go public.
The most eye-catching figure: nearly $4.3 billion in losses during just the first three months of 2026. That’s roughly $47 million vanishing every single day of the quarter.
The xAI problem
These losses trace back to accounting adjustments tied to SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture. Musk folded his AI company into his rocket company, and the resulting accounting treatment created a crater in SpaceX’s balance sheet.
SpaceX generated over $18.5 billion in revenue during 2025, but the company still posted a loss of nearly $5 billion for that same year. When one company acquires another, especially at a high valuation, the acquiring company often has to recognize significant intangible assets and goodwill on its books. The subsequent amortization and potential impairment of those assets can produce enormous paper losses, even if the underlying businesses are performing fine.
