Baker Hughes vs SpaceX: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Baker Hughes and SpaceX side by side

1. 1907Baker Hughes

   Reuben C. Baker patents the Well Casing Shoe

   On July 16, 1907, Reuben Carlton Baker was granted U.S. Patent No. 860,115 for the Well Casing Shoe, a device that kept oil flowing while casing was run into a well.

2. 1909Baker Hughes

   Howard R. Hughes Sr. patents the two-cone roller drill bit

   Howard R. Hughes Sr., working with Walter B. Sharp, tested a dual-cone roller bit on a rig at Goose Creek, Texas, and was granted U.S. patents on August 10, 1909.

3. 1913Baker Hughes

   Baker Casing Shoe Company founded in Coalinga, California

   Baker created the Baker Casing Shoe Company to manufacture and license his casing accessories. The design of the Baker casing shoe stayed essentially unchanged for about 40 years and the business became a pillar of the emerging oilfield service sector.

4. 1915Baker Hughes

   Sharp-Hughes renamed Hughes Tool Company

   Walter B. Sharp died in 1912 and Hughes acquired his partner stake. The business was renamed Hughes Tool Company in 1915. Its rock bits funded the fortune later inherited by Howard Hughes Jr.

5. 1928Baker Hughes

   Baker Casing Shoe Company renamed Baker Oil Tools

   The company was renamed Baker Oil Tools, Inc. as it widened its range from casing shoes into well completion and production equipment.

6. 1976Baker Hughes

   Baker Oil Tools reorganised as Baker International Corporation

   The Baker businesses were reorganised under the Baker International Corporation holding company, the entity that would merge with Hughes Tool eleven years later.

7. 1987Baker Hughes

   Baker International and Hughes Tool merge to form Baker Hughes Incorporated

   The merger was formally completed in early April 1987 once a Justice Department consent decree was signed and filed, and the Los Angeles Times reported the combination at about $1.2 billion. James D.

8. 1990Baker Hughes

   Baker Hughes buys Eastman Christensen

   Baker Hughes acquired Eastman Christensen, a specialist in directional drilling equipment and measurement-while-drilling tools. The capability became the core of what is now the Well Construction product line.

9. 1998Baker Hughes

   Baker Hughes acquires Western Atlas in a $5.5 billion merger

   Baker Hughes and Western Atlas signed a definitive merger agreement valued at $5.5 billion in May 1998, adding seismic acquisition, wireline logging and reservoir evaluation. The Western Atlas wireline division became Baker Atlas.

10. 2000Baker Hughes

    Michael E. Wiley becomes chairman, president and chief executive

    After Max L. Lukens resigned in January 2000 and director Joe B. Foster served as interim chairman, president and chief executive, Baker Hughes named former ARCO executive Michael Wiley as president, chairman and chief executive effective August 14, 2000.

11. 2002SpaceX

    SpaceX is founded

    Elon Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp. to reduce launch costs and make Mars settlement technically possible.

12. 2006Baker Hughes

    Baker Hughes exits the WesternGeco seismic joint venture

    Schlumberger bought the Baker Hughes 30% interest in the WesternGeco seismic joint venture for $2.4 billion, ending the partnership formed in 2000 and removing seismic acquisition from the Baker Hughes portfolio.

13. 2007Baker Hughes

    Baker Hughes pays $44.1 million to settle Kazakhstan bribery charges

    On April 26, 2007, subsidiary Baker Hughes Services International pleaded guilty to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations and paid an $11 million criminal fine for payments routed to an official in connection with the Karachaganak field in Kazakhstan.

14. 2008SpaceX

    Falcon 1 reaches orbit

    Falcon 1 became the first privately developed liquid-fuel rocket to reach orbit, rescuing SpaceX after three failed attempts.

15. 2010Baker Hughes

    Baker Hughes completes the $5.5 billion BJ Services acquisition

    Baker Hughes closed its cash-and-stock acquisition of pressure pumping and cementing company BJ Services on April 28, 2010. The Justice Department required the divestiture of BJ vessel-based stimulation assets in the U.S.

16. 2012SpaceX

    Dragon reaches the ISS

    Dragon became the first private spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station, proving SpaceX could serve NASA cargo missions.

17. 2014Baker Hughes

    Halliburton agrees to buy Baker Hughes for $34.6 billion

    On November 17, 2014, Halliburton and Baker Hughes announced a definitive stock-and-cash agreement valued at $34.6 billion. The deal drew antitrust review in the United States and Europe almost immediately.

18. 2015SpaceX

    Falcon 9 booster landing

    SpaceX landed an orbital-class booster, establishing the technical base for reusable launch economics.

19. 2016Baker Hughes

    Halliburton deal abandoned and Halliburton pays a $3.5 billion fee

    The Justice Department sued on April 6, 2016, to block the combination. The companies terminated the merger agreement on May 1, 2016, and Halliburton paid Baker Hughes the $3.5 billion termination fee by May 4, 2016.

20. 2017Baker Hughes

    Baker Hughes combines with GE Oil and Gas; Lorenzo Simonelli becomes CEO

    The combination closed on July 3, 2017, creating Baker Hughes, a GE company. Baker Hughes shareholders received a special cash dividend of $17.50 per share and 37.5% of the new company, with GE holding 62.5%.

21. 2017SpaceX

    Orbital booster reflight

    SpaceX reflown an orbital-class booster, pushing reuse from demonstration into operating model.

22. 2019Baker Hughes

    Company renamed Baker Hughes Company and GE drops below a majority stake

    GE sold shares in September 2019 for about $2.7 billion in net proceeds, cutting its holding to roughly 38.4%.

23. 2020SpaceX

    Crew Dragon carries astronauts

    SpaceX became the first private company to carry astronauts to orbit, restoring U.S. crew launch capability.

24. 2021Baker Hughes

    Stock listing moves from the New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq

    Baker Hughes announced on October 27, 2021 that it would move its Class A common stock and listed bonds to the Nasdaq Global Select Market, and trading there began on December 7, 2021 under the same BKR ticker.

25. 2021SpaceX

    Acquired Swarm Technologies

    SpaceX acquired Swarm Technologies.

26. 2022Baker Hughes

    GE ownership ends and Baker Hughes suspends most Russian activity

    The 2022 Form 10-K states that GE no longer had an economic interest in Baker Hughes Holdings LLC as of December 31, 2022, down from 11.4% a year earlier.

27. 2023SpaceX

    Starship flight testing begins

    SpaceX conducted the first integrated Starship flight test, starting the high-risk development cycle for its next launch system.

28. 2025Baker Hughes

    Record FY2025 adjusted EBITDA, orders and free cash flow

    Revenue was $27.733B, roughly flat against $27.829B in 2024, with attributable net income of $2.588B. Adjusted EBITDA reached a record $4,825M, orders a record $29,585M including a record $14,871M at IET, and free cash flow a record $2,732M.

29. 2025SpaceX

    FY2025 revenue reaches $18.674B

    SpaceX reported $18.674B in FY2025 revenue and a $4.937B net loss in its 2026 prospectus.

30. 2026Baker Hughes

    Chart Industries acquired and two businesses divested

    Baker Hughes completed its $13.6 billion acquisition of Chart Industries on July 16, 2026 and set it up as a third reporting segment led by senior vice president Jim Apostolides, targeting $325 million of annualised cost synergies within three years.

31. 2026SpaceX

    Prospectus lists SPCX and Starlink scale

    The 2026 prospectus described a Nasdaq listing under SPCX and about 10.3M Starlink subscribers as of March 31, 2026.

Acquisitions

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