SpaceX vs Warner Bros. Discovery: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
SpaceX reported $18.7B of revenue in FY2025 and a net loss of $4.9B. Warner Bros. Discovery reported $37.3B of revenue in FY2025 and $727M of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
SpaceX
- Latest revenue
- $18.7B (FY2025)
- Net income
- -$4.9B
- Net margin
- -26.4%
- Revenue growth
- +34.1% a year, FY2023–FY2025
Warner Bros. Discovery
- Latest revenue
- $37.3B (FY2025)
- Net income
- $727M
- Net margin
- 1.9%
- Revenue growth
- +32.3% a year, FY2021–FY2025
Financial summary
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.
Warner Bros. Discovery
FY2025 revenue was $37.3 billion, down 5% ex-FX, with net income available to WBD of $727 million, adjusted EBITDA of $8.7 billion, and free cash flow of $3.1 billion. The company ended 2025 with 131.6 million streaming subscribers and $29.0 billion of net debt. In 2026, Q1 revenue was $8.9 billion with a $2.9 billion net loss that included the $2.8 billion termination fee owed to Netflix, which Paramount Skydance paid on WBD's behalf. Q2 revenue was $8.7 billion, down 12% ex-FX, with net income of $149 million and adjusted EBITDA of $1.9 billion. During Q2 WBD repaid its $15 billion bridge loan with new term loans.
Revenue and profit by year
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 |
Warner Bros. Discovery
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $37.3B | $727M | 1.9% | -5.1% | Source |
| FY2024 | $39.3B | -$11.3B | -28.8% | -4.8% | Source |
| FY2023 | $41.3B | -$3.1B | -7.6% | +22.2% | Source |
| FY2022 | $33.8B | -$7.4B | -21.8% | +177.4% | Source |
| FY2021 | $12.2B | $1B | 8.3% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
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.
Warner Bros. Discovery
- Distribution
Largest revenue type
Streaming subscription fees and carriage fees from pay-TV distributors.
- Advertising
Declining
Ad sales on linear networks and ad-supported streaming tiers; down 22% ex-FX in Q2 2026.
- Content
Varies with film slate
Theatrical releases, TV licensing, games, and consumer products.
Business model and strategy
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.
Warner Bros. Discovery
How it makes money
WBD earns money from three revenue types. Distribution revenue comes from HBO Max and discovery+ subscriptions and from fees that pay-TV distributors pay to carry its cable networks. Advertising revenue comes from linear networks such as TNT, TBS, CNN, Discovery and HGTV, plus ad-supported streaming tiers.
Growth strategy
Before the sale, WBD's plan centered on growing HBO Max internationally, rebuilding the film slate and DC under DC Studios, licensing its library, and managing linear networks for cash. In 2025 it planned to split into two companies (Streaming & Studios and Global Networks) before the board ran a sale process that ended with the Paramount Skydance agreement.
Competitive advantage
WBD's main asset is its content library and franchise IP: Warner Bros. films and TV, HBO series, DC, Harry Potter, Looney Tunes, and a large unscripted catalog from Discovery, HGTV and Food Network. That library is the main reason it drew competing bids from Netflix and Paramount Skydance in 2025 and 2026.
Questions about SpaceX vs Warner Bros. Discovery
Which company has higher revenue — SpaceX or Warner Bros. Discovery?
SpaceX reported $18.7B (FY2025), while Warner Bros. Discovery reported $37.3B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, Warner Bros. Discovery is the larger business, with SpaceX reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of SpaceX vs Warner Bros. Discovery?
SpaceX's market capitalisation stands at $1.92T, while Warner Bros. Discovery's is $77.0B. SpaceX carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Warner Bros. Discovery.
Which is more financially efficient — SpaceX or Warner Bros. Discovery?
SpaceX generates $826k / employee in revenue per employee, while Warner Bros. Discovery generates $1.05M / employee. Warner Bros. Discovery 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 SpaceX and Warner Bros. Discovery make money?
SpaceX and Warner Bros. Discovery generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. SpaceX: SpaceX earns money in three segments. Warner Bros. Discovery: WBD earns money from three revenue types.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — SpaceX or Warner Bros. Discovery?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, SpaceX trades at 102.8x P/S and Warner Bros. Discovery at 2.1x P/S. SpaceX commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Warner Bros. Discovery. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is SpaceX bigger than Warner Bros. Discovery?
By last reported revenue, Warner Bros. Discovery ($37.3B (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 SpaceX vs Warner Bros. Discovery overview