It is rather incredible how dominant Falcon 9 is in the current launch market.
this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
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This strategy can also be called "investing".
If their internal Falcon 9 launch cost is $20 something million, they do pretty well on a lot of commercial launches. They're also starting to get cash flow positive on Starlink.
The problem with "investing" is that the investors eventually want as much return as they can get.
It would be foolish to assume venture capitalists will not try to exploit a market monopoly.
Oh, I meant the company investing upfront in capabilities, not individual investors. My understanding is that SpaceX mainly sells non-voting shares, so they should be less susceptible to normal investor BS.
As far as using/abusing their position goes, I think there's some evidence of regulatory capture. Requirements are appearing for automated flight termination systems, low satellite reflectivity, and satellite deorbit. Those are all good, but SpaceX exacerbated the issues, and now these rules add cost and complexity for their competitors.