Gwynne Shotwell's SpaceX Success: How She Forged A Billion-Dollar Fortune

Forbes

With Elon Musk’s attention divided among his many companies, Shotwell has been the constant presence ensuring that the rocket maker delivers on its ambitious plans. She’s profiting handsomely, Forbes reveals.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2025/04/01/gwynne-shotwell-spacex-billionaire/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, Gwynne Shotwell rides SpaceX to billion-dollar fortune.

00:07Tesla's share price may be cratering as billionaire CEO Elon Musk pursues his side hustle of chainsawing

00:14the federal workforce.

00:15But investors still believe in his rocket company, SpaceX.

00:20And that's made Gwynne Shotwell a billionaire.

00:24Musk's longtime lieutenant at SpaceX holds a 0.3% stake in the company, Forbes estimates,

00:30based on accounts of her stock compensation from investors and early employees.

00:35That stake is worth $1.2 billion after the private company's valuation hit $350 billion

00:42in December in a sale of insider shares.

00:46Shotwell declined to comment on Forbes' estimates.

00:49For Shotwell, who is 61 years old, it's a rich reward for the gamble she took when

00:54she joined SpaceX in 2002 as employee number 11, tasked with leading sales of Musk's

01:01as-yet-unbuilt rocket.

01:03At the time, the Northwestern-trained mechanical engineer was going through a divorce with

01:08two young children to care for, and she hesitated to leave a safe position at a small rocketmaker.

01:14After all, she was the space systems director at an established spacecraft developer, Microcosm.

01:21But Musk had pumped $100 million into SpaceX from his proceeds from the sale of PayPal.

01:27And after thinking it over for a month, Shotwell bought into his vision of creating reusable

01:31rockets that could offer low-cost access to space.

01:36In a talk at Stanford University in 2022, Shotwell recounted, quote,

01:40In 2008, Musk promoted her to running the team as president and chief operating officer.

01:54With Musk's attention split between Tesla and his other ventures, she's kept the ambitious

01:58space company delivering on a breakneck development schedule, and helped make it the dominant

02:03rocket company on Earth.

02:06SpaceX has scaled from eight launches of its Falcon rocket in 2016 to a staggering 134

02:13in 2024.

02:15The next closest, China's state-owned CASC, managed just 48.

02:21SpaceX carried 83 percent of all satellites put into orbit worldwide last year, according

02:26to a report from the consultancy BriceTech.

02:30Most of those were SpaceX's own communications satellites, which are the main reason investors

02:35are excited about the company.

02:37SpaceX has built up a constellation of 6,800 satellites in low-Earth orbit that as of year-end

02:43were providing broadband internet service to 4.6 million subscribers, up 90 percent

02:49from 2023.

02:52SpaceX doesn't share financials, but in November, Shotwell said Starlink was going to turn a

02:56profit for the year.

02:59At the Barron Investment Conference, she said, quote,

03:02The company is incredibly valuable, I think, right now because of Starlink.

03:07Starlink will add a zero, probably, at least as we continue to grow the Starlink system.

03:13Morgan Stanley estimates Starlink achieved an operating profit of $900 million in 2024

03:19on $9.3 billion in revenue.

03:23But any cash from operations was likely canceled out by high spending to build out the Starlink

03:28constellation and develop SpaceX's giant Starship rocket.

03:33With roughly four times the payload capacity of Falcon 9, Starship is the linchpin in SpaceX's

03:38plans to dramatically increase the Starlink constellation's coverage and performance,

03:44and realize Musk's vision of reaching Mars.

03:47Not to mention, boost SpaceX's valuation even more.

03:52At the Barron Conference, Shotwell said, quote,

03:55Ultimately, I think Starship will be the thing that takes us over the top as one of the most

03:59valuable companies.

04:01We can't even envision what Starship is going to do to humanity and humans' lives, and I

04:06think that will be the most valuable part of SpaceX.

04:10Last year, Forbes ranked Shotwell at number 25 on our 2024 Power Women list.

04:16And this past week, she joined the Forbes World's Billionaires list for the first time.

04:22For full coverage, check out Jeremy Bogaski's piece on Forbes.com.

04:27This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:30Thanks for tuning in.

Category

Transcript

Recommended