Credit: The Boring Company
Part of SpaceX’s US$4.4 billion third quarter profit came from a paper gain on The Boring Company. In its Form 10-Q, filed with the SEC on Thursday, SpaceX says it recorded a US$561 million unrealized gain on its Boring stake in the quarter after the tunneling company “completed a new round of financing with its investors” in September 2026.
No cash changed hands for SpaceX here. It measures its Boring holding under the fair value option, so when Boring raised money at a new price, SpaceX marked up the value of its stake and booked the difference in other income (expense), net. The filing says that fair value is set each quarter “based on market observable inputs, such as financing transactions with unaffiliated third party investors.”
SpaceX also explains why Boring isn’t consolidated into its results: “The Company is presumed to have a significant influence, but not control, over TBC given the Company’s CEO has a controlling voting interest in TBC.” Elon Musk runs both companies. Including Boring, SpaceX’s equity method investments were worth US$653 million at the end of September, up from US$101 million at the end of 2025.
The gain shows up clearly in the income statement. Other income rose by US$885 million compared to a year earlier, which SpaceX says was “primarily due to unrealized gain on investments in unconsolidated affiliates and gain on digital assets.” Net income for the quarter came in at US$4,404 million, the number behind SpaceX’s US$4.4 billion profit reported on Tuesday. For the first nine months of 2026, SpaceX still shows a net loss of US$413 million.
Boring’s September raise lines up with the US$3 billion Series D led by the United Arab Emirates that valued the company at US$23 billion, though the 10-Q doesn’t name the round or the price.
On the operating side, the filing shows a slower quarter for Falcon. SpaceX flew 33 Falcon launches in the third quarter, down from 43 a year earlier, and put 476 metric tons into orbit compared to 525 metric tons in the same period of 2025. Starship flew twice in the quarter, up from once a year ago.
Should one-time gains like this one be stripped out when judging SpaceX’s profit, or is it fair to count them?
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