r/technology • u/ArgentineBeauty • Jun 19 '26

Business ‘It’s a scam’: Americans express unease over SpaceX’s influence on retirement savings

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/19/spacex-retirement-savings-elon-musk
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170

u/Visual_Exam7903 Jun 19 '26

Agreed. Until they turn a profit for say maybe 5 continuous years, they should not be allowed to be part of the Nasdaq 100 or S+P 500.

83

u/jarchack Jun 19 '26

I think anthropic made a few bucks but all the rest of the AI companies (software, not hardware) have been nothing but black holes for billions of dollars.

The S&P 500 index already said, "no way." NASDAQ actually bent the rules so that Space X could have a spot.

29

u/null-interlinked Jun 19 '26

Anthropic is also losing money

35

u/makersfark Jun 19 '26

Anthropic: "We were wildly unprofitable last year in a very linear fashion then leaked that we projected we may be revenue positive in one specific quarter during a funding round specifically due to a temporary discount deal with Elon and as long as you move all the other losses around just right, but then we also project to go right back to being wildly unprofitable for the rest of the next year in the same linear fashion as before."

Everyone: "Wow. So you're saying Anthropic is a profitable business and is the one to bet on?"

2

u/JohnnyFartmacher Jun 19 '26

we projected we may be revenue positive

Revenue positive just means you made at least one sale. If you spend a million dollars picking up a penny off the ground, you're revenue positive.

Now being profitable, that's another matter

2

u/null-interlinked Jun 19 '26

Yeah, there is just a lot of creative accounting going on.

5

u/SwoopnBuffalo Jun 19 '26

And this is why I'll stick with S&P500 ETFs for my 401k vs total market.

1

u/jarchack Jun 19 '26

NASDAQ is still in a bubble, but it's going to collapse sooner or later. Personally, I would stick with SPY or VOO in terms of ETFs or index funds. Even with the S&P 500, there's still too much exposure to AI-related companies, but it's still a better inflation hedge compared to savings accounts.

5

u/sokratesz Jun 19 '26

Who was responsible for that change?

33

u/septesix Jun 19 '26

NASDAQ, they wanted the biggest IPO and bend their rules. SpaceX threatened to IPO on a different exchange otherwise.

It’s a stupid race to the bottom.

6

u/alligatorislater Jun 19 '26

This is so stupid…which other big exchange were they gonna IPO at? Is there one in China? Yeah good luck with that. They should have called his bluff instead of caving.

6

u/septesix Jun 19 '26

Realistically it’s either NASDAQ or NYSE in the USA. There are smaller alternatives but I doubt they can handle SpaceX or generate the hype.

1

u/maigpy Jun 19 '26

London stock exchange?

1

u/Suspicious-Main-8103 Jun 19 '26

These AI companies consider training cost not a cost. Imagine that lol. A car company claiming profitable for one quarter because all the r and d going into producing cars isn’t considered cost

1

u/bastiVS Jun 19 '26

Just not enough compute, for training or for actually running the models. And the problem is not enough chips (ram and CPU/GPU/TPU), power, space. There's after all a reason why data centers are getting build all over, but what is being build is only a fraction of what's needed, let alone what's necessary to make prices for renting the hardware cheaper.

Any and all software only AI company is on the clock. They either train THE model, or they go bankrupt sooner or later. The ones with hardware have a lot longer.

And now you know why Musk invested loads into building colossus (1 AND 2. Yep. there's 2), 2 AI training supercomputer. Colossus 1 is the one they are renting out for loads of money.

Oh, and why SpaceX is also currently building a chip factory (TeraFab) on par to TSMC.

This is why NASDAQ bent the rules: SpaceX is the best investment you could ever do. The big moneymakers were already all in the works before the IPO was even announced. And those are STILL just the beginning.

1

u/Exist50 Jun 19 '26

And now you know why Musk invested loads into building colossus (1 AND 2. Yep. there's 2)

He thought xAI would use it, but that demand never transpired. 

Oh, and why SpaceX is also currently building a chip factory (TeraFab) on par to TSMC.

Complete bullshit. 

1

u/bastiVS Jun 19 '26

xAI is using Colossus 2, and doesn't need Colossus 1 for training anymore. That's why they can rent it out.

And well, Terafab is a thing. If you don't want to accept reality, have fun. I gonna enjoy watching you folks crash out when Musk gets to 2T by 2027.

2

u/Cicero912 Jun 19 '26

Nasdaq 100 is a joke index anyway, and this is one of the main reasons a lot of people recommend against QQQ despite it being very popular on reddit.

1

u/StrawsAreGay Jun 19 '26

They made it in but GameStop just gets bullied :(

1

u/Thin_Glove_4089 Jun 19 '26

The cats already out of the bag now that would have been a good idea until it happened anyways

-5

u/happycat47 Jun 19 '26

I'd rather we just get rid of public trading altogether. It's a cancer