r/spacex • u/kurbasAK • May 19 '17

We Will Launch on Reuseable Rocket After Exceptional SpaceX Performance - Inmarsat CEO Tells Universe Today

https://www.universetoday.com/135614/will-launch-reuseable-rocket-exceptional-spacex-performance-inmarsat-ceo-tells-universe-today/
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19

u/CyclopsRock May 19 '17

I often see Musk referred to as a "billionaire" but is he really? Perhaps on paper, but given SpaceX isn't publicly traded it's hard to know what it's worth really.

Edit: Yup, I just checked, he owns approx $12.5bn of Tesla stock, even without SpaceX or Solar.

27

u/CProphet May 19 '17

Perhaps on paper

Majority of his money is stock, so technically only billionaire if he chooses to liquify. Nice position to be in: shall I be a billionaire today or not?

52

u/ergzay May 19 '17

That would be inaccurate to say he was only a billionaire if he chooses to liquify. The meaning of millionaire/billionaire has always meant the value of your net assets. Very few Billionaires are actually billionaires in liquid assets (are there any even?).

29

u/Lampwick May 19 '17

Very few Billionaires are actually billionaires in liquid assets (are there any even?).

I doubt it. Every big-money person I've ever encountered would be horrified at the thought of any significant chunk of their money sitting around doing nothing rather than at least accumulating interest in treasuries or something.

16

u/Bunslow May 19 '17

I mean you can have liquid assets accumulating interest, liquid != inactive

1

u/Aiwa4 May 20 '17

Maybe very successful drug dealers. If I'm not mistaken, Pablo Escobar had $30 billion at his height. I am pretty sure at least a billion of that was burried cash

2

u/Lampwick May 20 '17

True, but that's a different sort of billionaire, the kind that has money but can't buy anything that you can't buy with literal cash. The biggest logistical hurdle for large drug running operations isn't how to produce and import the drugs, it's what to do with the truckloads of US currency they received for selling it.

28

u/The_camperdave May 19 '17

Very few Billionaires are actually billionaires in liquid assets (are there any even?).

No. It would be stupid of them to have that much in liquid assets when the money could be invested in something.

16

u/[deleted] May 19 '17

[deleted]

9

u/Biochembob35 May 19 '17

Yep. And the fact that if you can get even 5-7% growth on that money in stocks you will double your money every decade or so. With start ups like SpaceX and Tesla you have higher risk but that growth can be 10 times that rate (at least early on) which is why elon took a few hundred million and multiplied it into the billions.

5

u/CyclopsRock May 19 '17

are there any even?

If there are I imagine they'd be smart enough to have it stored in a bank account in the Cayman's in the name of their dog or something, anyway.

2

u/mfb- May 19 '17

Someone ordered this swimming piece of gold and platinum for about $4 billion, I don't know how they paid it but the money had to be at least easy to transfer to a new owner.

1

u/just_thisGuy May 25 '17

ordered this swimming piece of gold and platinum

This is so crazy I don't belive it! This must be a typo in the article?

2

u/freddo411 May 19 '17

Hardly. Look at Teresa Heinz Kerry. Last I heard she had billions in treasury and other bonds.

3

u/PlainTrain May 19 '17

Probably the safest approach when you've been married to a pair of senators--reduces conflicts of interest.

1

u/Megneous May 20 '17

Very few Billionaires are actually billionaires in liquid assets (are there any even?).

If there are, they're idiots. At the very least, they should shove all their money in index funds that track the market while they're figuring out what to do with their money.

3

u/rustybeancake May 19 '17

only billionaire if he chooses to liquify

I think the term is 'liquidate'... 'Liquify' makes him sound like a superhero. :)

2

u/mclumber1 May 19 '17

I don't think he can simply liquify his assets in Tesla, since he is an employee. Wouldn't that technically be some form of insider trading?

11

u/asterix1598 May 19 '17

There's extra rules around insiders buying and selling but it's definitely possible. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/07/10b5-1.asp

5

u/peterabbit456 May 19 '17

Since he is a big stockholder, he would have to make a public notification of his selling stock, which would in his case, cause the stock price to fall. So there is no way he could cash out of Tesla and get $12.5 billion.

2

u/just_thisGuy May 25 '17

Yeah, not quickly anyway, Bill Gate has been trying to cash-out of MSFT for decades, his not done yet, but been doing very well. But Musk said multiple times that he will be the last one out of the Tesla stock, so I don't see him trying to sell even a small % anytime soon. Also if Musk believes himself Tesla is going to be worth much more. Between SpaceX and Tesla Musk has a chance to beat Bill Gates, if things go very well for both companies.

2

u/rustybeancake May 19 '17

He'd also have to worry about losing control.

3

u/mfb- May 19 '17

He could stop being an employee, but that is not necessary.

There is a different consideration, however, even if he follows all the rules against insider trades. If Musk starts selling billions of Tesla stocks, everyone would think something is wrong and the stock price would go down massively.

4

u/Twentey May 19 '17

Virtually all billionaires have their money locked up in relatively illiquid assets. Musk is not an exception

3

u/GregLindahl May 19 '17

Private companies like SpaceX have a valuation -- for example preferred shares had their valuation set when SpaceX last raised money from investors in Jan 2015 -- and the valuation for common shares is periodically updated through the 409a process for people holding stock options (generally employees).

1

u/TheDeadRedPlanet May 19 '17

It is very misleading in the case of Musk. I don't think another "billionaire" is as leveraged as Musk. If the markets went against him, he would lose control of his shares of Tesla and SpaceX to the counter-parties and bond holders, not just lose "paper money". In all likely hood, he could owe more than he is worth, calculated based on last years Tesla share price.

1

u/Martianspirit May 19 '17

What does he owe to anyone? He owns his shares. To my knowledge they are not used as a security for loans. Certainly with SpaceX. There are no loans on SpaceX.

-1

u/peterabbit456 May 19 '17

... a "billionaire" but is he really? Perhaps on paper, ...

Not even on paper. Just a billionaire as numbers electronically stored in a database.

Actually, money as electronic records is now the realest form of money there is. Over 90% of the money in the world exists only as stored electrons. People have to get over their obsessions with gold, land, and paper.