Adobe vs SpaceX: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Adobe reported $23.8B of revenue in FY2025 and $7.1B of net income. SpaceX reported $18.7B of revenue in FY2025 and a net loss of $4.9B.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
Adobe
Revenue rose from $5.854 billion in fiscal 2016 to $23.769 billion in fiscal 2025. Fiscal 2025 net income was $7.130 billion, compared with $5.560 billion in fiscal 2024. Adobe's fiscal years in this series ended on the Friday closest to November 30 or, in some years, early December.
SpaceX
SpaceX revenue grew from $10.387 billion in 2023 to $14.015 billion in 2024 and $18.674 billion in 2025, but heavy Starship, Starlink, and AI spending produced a $4.937 billion FY2025 net loss. In Q2 2026, its first quarter reported as a public company, revenue was $7.8 billion (up 92%), adjusted EBITDA was $3.5 billion, net loss was $541 million, and backlog was $47.5 billion. The IPO raised $85.7 billion and a $25 billion bond sale added more liquidity. In late September 2026 the stock traded near $145, for a market capitalization around $1.9 trillion.
Revenue and profit by year
Adobe
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $23.8B | $7.1B | 30.0% | +10.5% | Source |
| FY2024 | $21.5B | $5.6B | 25.9% | +10.8% | Source |
| FY2023 | $19.4B | $5.4B | 28.0% | +10.2% | Source |
| FY2022 | $17.6B | $4.8B | 27.0% | +11.5% | Source |
| FY2021 | $15.8B | $4.8B | 30.5% | +22.7% | Source |
| FY2020 | $12.9B | $5.3B | 40.9% | +15.2% | Source |
| FY2019 | $11.2B | $3B | 26.4% | +23.7% | Source |
| FY2018 | $9B | $2.6B | 28.7% | +23.7% | Source |
| FY2017 | $7.3B | $1.7B | 23.2% | +24.7% | Source |
| FY2016 | $5.9B | $1.2B | 20.0% | — | Source |
SpaceX
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $18.7B | -$4.9B | -26.4% | +33.2% | Source |
| FY2024 | $14B | $18M | 0.1% | +34.9% | Source |
| FY2023 | $10.4B | -$4.6B | -44.6% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Adobe
- Digital Media74.3%
Creative Cloud and Document Cloud generated $17.649 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue.
- Digital Experience24.7%
Customer-experience applications and services generated $5.864 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue.
- Publishing and Advertising1.1%
Publishing products and advertising offerings generated $256 million in fiscal 2025 revenue.
SpaceX
- Launch services
Not formally reported
Commercial, civil, and national-security launches priced by rocket, payload, orbit, and service type.
- Starlink consumer broadband
Not formally reported
Monthly subscriptions and terminals for residential and mobile broadband.
- Enterprise and government connectivity
Not formally reported
Starlink enterprise, aviation, maritime, backup connectivity, Starshield, and government services.
- AI infrastructure
Not formally reported
Compute and cloud services from SpaceX's AI segment, formed through the xAI combination; $2.6B revenue in Q2 2026.
Business model and strategy
Adobe
How it makes money
Adobe earns most of its revenue from subscriptions. In fiscal 2025, subscription revenue was $22.904 billion, or about 96% of total revenue. Digital Media includes Creative Cloud and Document Cloud, while Digital Experience includes applications and services for customer experience management. Adobe also reports a smaller Publishing and Advertising business.
Growth strategy
Adobe's stated strategy includes expanding Creative Cloud and Document Cloud, developing Firefly and other AI capabilities, and growing customer-experience applications. In 2026 Adobe also announced that Anil Chakravarthy, who leads Customer Experience Orchestration and worldwide field operations, will become CEO on December 1, 2026.
Competitive advantage
Adobe combines established creative applications, the PDF and Acrobat document workflow, and customer-experience software in subscription offerings. Its fiscal 2025 Form 10-K says its markets are competitive and subject to rapid technology change, so continued product development and customer retention remain important.
SpaceX
How it makes money
SpaceX earns money in three segments. Space sells launches on Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, plus Dragon cargo and crew missions for NASA, the U.S. government, and commercial customers ($962 million in Q2 2026).
Growth strategy
SpaceX's growth plan has four parts: add Starlink subscribers and raise enterprise, aviation, and mobile revenue; launch higher-capacity Starlink V3 satellites on Starship; expand national-security work through Starshield and launch contracts (over $6 billion in U.S. government awards in Q2 2026); and scale AI compute capacity, which grew from 400 megawatts a year earlier to 1.4 gigawatts at the end of Q2 2026.
Competitive advantage
SpaceX's advantage is reusability combined with vertical integration. It builds its own engines, avionics, rockets, and satellites, and reflies Falcon 9 boosters many times, which lowers its marginal launch cost below rivals that still expend most hardware. Being its own largest launch customer lets it deploy Starlink at a cadence no other operator has matched, and Starlink revenue then funds Starship.
Questions about Adobe vs SpaceX
Which company has higher revenue — Adobe Inc. or SpaceX?
Adobe Inc. reported $23.8B (FY2025), while SpaceX reported $18.7B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, Adobe Inc. is the larger business, with SpaceX reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of Adobe Inc. vs SpaceX?
Adobe Inc.'s market capitalisation stands at $93.0B, while SpaceX's is $1.92T. SpaceX carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Adobe Inc..
Which is more financially efficient — Adobe Inc. or SpaceX?
Adobe Inc. generates $758k / employee in revenue per employee, while SpaceX generates $826k / employee. SpaceX shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do Adobe Inc. and SpaceX make money?
Adobe Inc. and SpaceX generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Adobe Inc.: Adobe earns most of its revenue from subscriptions. SpaceX: SpaceX earns money in three segments.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Adobe Inc. or SpaceX?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Adobe Inc. trades at 3.9x P/S and SpaceX at 102.8x P/S. SpaceX commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Adobe Inc.. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Adobe Inc. bigger than SpaceX?
By last reported revenue, Adobe Inc. ($23.8B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to SpaceX ($18.7B (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Adobe vs SpaceX overview