News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
SpaceX Starship launch aborted on the pad at the last moment
SpaceX's mega Starship rocket came within a second or so from blasting off on a test flight Thursday but some of the engines failed to start, triggering a launch abort. Elon Musk's company said it will have to figure out what went wrong before making another attempt to send Starship on a space-skimming journey halfway around the world. It was supposed to be the 13th flight for Starship, which at 407 feet (124 meters) tall with 33 main engines is the world's biggest and most powerful rocket. SpaceX's launch webcast showed the start of engine ignition three seconds before the planned liftoff, viewed from a drone high above the pad. Although the company did not elaborate, on-screen data showed four engines not firing, with the remaining 29 engines immediately shutting down and keeping the rocket anchored to the pad. It was the first time a full-scale Starship experienced a last-second abort like this. The launch team immediately began draining the fuel from the rocket. "Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days," Musk announced via X. Everything was going SpaceX's way, even the weather, until the partial engine ignition. In the end, the rocket's automatic launch system worked as planned by halting everything. Too few operating engines could have doomed the launch. Some earlier Starship flights ended in explosive fireballs. Elon Musk's company had newest, most advanced Starlinks aboard Twenty of SpaceX's newest and most advanced Starlinks were on board Starship for release during the planned hourlong flight. The internet satellites were going to try communicating with Starlinks already in orbit while taking photos of Starship's heat shield. Neither the first-stage booster nor spacecraft were meant to be recovered, with both ending up in the sea. The rocket's automatic launch system worked as planned by halting everything. Too few operating engines could have resulted in a failed launch. Some earlier Starship flights, for example, ended in explosive fireballs. World's biggest rocket is key to putting astronauts back on the moon NASA is counting on Starship to land its astronauts on the moon in the next few years. The space agency has hired SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to build and fly the lunar landers that will return humanity to the surface of the moon after an absence of more than half a century. Both companies need to have their landers -- Starship and Blue Moon -- ready to fly by next year so that the newly named Artemis III crew can practice docking their capsule with them in orbit around Earth. The mission after that -- Artemis IV planned for no earlier than 2028 -- would use one of those landers to take two astronauts to the moon's south polar region.
SpaceX Starship launch aborted at the last moment
SpaceX's mega Starship rocket has come within a second or so from blasting off on a test flight but some of the engines failed to start, triggering a launch abort. Elon Musk's company said it will have to figure out what went wrong on Thursday before making another attempt to send Starship on a space-skimming journey halfway around the world. It was supposed to be the 13th flight for Starship, which at 124m tall with 33 main engines is the world's biggest and most powerful rocket. SpaceX's launch webcast showed the start of engine ignition three seconds before the planned liftoff, viewed from a drone high above the pad. Although the company did not elaborate, on-screen data showed four engines not firing, with the remaining 29 engines immediately shutting down and keeping the rocket anchored to the pad. It was the first time a full-scale Starship experienced a last-second abort like this. The launch team immediately began draining the fuel from the rocket. "Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days," Musk announced via X. Everything was going SpaceX's way, even the weather, until the partial engine ignition. In the end, the rocket's automatic launch system worked as planned by halting everything. Too few operating engines could have doomed the launch. Some earlier Starship flights ended in explosive fireballs. Elon Musk's company had newest, most advanced Starlinks aboard Twenty of SpaceX's newest and most advanced Starlinks were on board Starship for release during the planned hour-long flight. The internet satellites were going to try communicating with Starlinks already in orbit while taking photos of Starship's heat shield. Neither the first-stage booster nor spacecraft were meant to be recovered, with both ending up in the sea. The rocket's automatic launch system worked as planned by halting everything. Too few operating engines could have resulted in a failed launch. Some earlier Starship flights, for example, ended in explosive fireballs.
SpaceX scrubs Starship launch attempt right as engines begin to light
SpaceX tried to get its 13th suborbital test flight of its Starship and Super Heavy rocket off the ground from Texas on Thursday, but its engines had an automatic shutdown just as they were beginning to fire with the countdown clock hitting 0. "We're not going to be launching today. We got all the way down to startup, triggered a hold on the booster, and that shut down the engines as they were starting to ignite," said SpaceX commentator Dan Huot. Teams will offload propellants and a new launch date will be announced at a later time. "We'll dig in with the teams, figure out what happened, and figure out when our next attempt is going to be," Huot said. The delay comes as the company attempts to drive toward its goal of beginning operational missions from Florida potentially before the end of the year. The massive rocket had been targeting launch during a 90-minute window that opened at 6:45 p.m. from the company's Starbase site on the southeast Texas coast. When it does eventually launch, the flight plan looks to send the Starship upper stage more than halfway around the world to land with a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the coast of western Australia while the Super Heavy booster will try for a controlled landing in the Gulf shortly after liftoff and separation. The launch comes about two months since the 12th test flight that was the first time Elon Musk's company flew Version 3 of the rocket. That mission suffered an uncontrolled landing of its booster in the Gulf that ultimately led to the rocket's grounding by the Federal Aviation Administration. The required mishap investigation that was led by SpaceX was accepted by the FAA, which announced Monday Starship was clear to fly again. "There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight," SpaceX stated on a mission update on its website. The company said that on the 12th flight after the booster separation, the engine setup and flip maneuver caused it to be off by about 90 degrees, which led to its failure and ultimate crash into the Gulf. Five of its 33 Raptor engines had issues as they tried to relight and that caused a planned "boostback burn" to end early. "The startup sequence has been modified to be more robust to timing variability and more reliably flip in the desired direction, which is done to increase overall performance," SpaceX stated. "The Super Heavy on this upcoming flight has hardware modifications to improve re-light reliability along with updates to engine alarms and aborts to match the conditions seen in the multi-engine flight environment." While the booster failed to make a controlled return on Flight 12, the upper stage achieved its goals of getting to the landing site in the Indian Ocean, although minus one of the three Raptor vacuum engines, which was lost about 40 seconds after stage separation. "The vehicle was able to demonstrate its engine out capability and reach its planned suborbital trajectory," SpaceX stated. "Several hardware and operational modifications have been made to address the interconnected causes with additional reliability improvements planned in upcoming versions of the Raptor engine." Something new on this mission will be the deployment of real Starlink satellites during flight. Previous Starship test flights have tried out simulators deployed during the suborbital missions. These large V3 satellites, which are too big for launches on SpaceX's current Falcon 9 rockets, will have a test run during which they will attempt to extend their solar array and antennas, and connect to the existing Starlink satellite constellation using high-capacity lasers. The Starlink satellites' lives will be short-lived, though, as they follow the Starship upper stage after deployment for an eventual reentry into the Earth's atmosphere to crash down over the Indian Ocean about 20 minutes after their deployment. Six of the 20 satellites also have cameras on board to scan Starship's heat shield, which continues to be modified for the rocket's ultimate operational configuration. Those flights are slated to take place in Florida where SpaceX continues to build out three Starship launch towers. The first is at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39-A while two more are in the works at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37. The Space Force in late 2025 indicated it was prepared to support the first Starship launch on the Space Coast by mid 2026 while SpaceX has stated it would still try to launch before the end of the year. SpaceX also is nearing completion of its Gigabay manufacturing site at KSC where it will build out future Starship upper stages and Super Heavy boosters, part of a $1.8 billion investment in Space Coast operations. The first flights from KSC, though, will feature rockets shipped over from Texas until Florida's Gigabay is up and running. SpaceX ultimately is aiming for as many as 120 flights a year from across the three launch pads in Florida, a number that has raised criticism for its impact on commercial airspace. Also of concern has been its sonic boom potential during both booster landings and upper stage Starship return-to-launch-site flights that would bring it across Central Florida similar to how the space shuttle used to land back at KSC. The rocket is the most powerful to ever launch to space with nearly 17 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, nearly doubling the power of NASA's Space Launch System rocket. Starship's first test flight came in April 2023 and progress seemed to be on a good trajectory with the company managing to capture its first Super Heavy booster back at the launch tower using its swiveling "chopsticks" arms on its fifth-ever launch in October 2024. Flights in early 2025, though, ended in a series of failures including two in which the Starship upper stage disintegrated in a fiery cascade of debris across the skies visible from Florida and the Caribbean. It ended 2025, though, with two successful test flights using Version 2 of Starship followed by more than a seven-month lull before the first launch of Version 3 in May of this year. NASA is eagerly awaiting operational Starship flights as a version of the rocket is tasked to become a moon lander as part of the Artemis program. The Artemis III mission planned for mid 2027 is seeking to test out a crewed Orion spacecraft's ability to dock with a pathfinder version of Starship as well as Blue Origin's Blue Moon MK2 lander. Blue Origin, though, has to get its Canaveral launch site rebuilt after a New Glenn rocket exploded on the pad during a test hot fire earlier this year.
SpaceX scrubs Starship launch attempt right as engines begin to light
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I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here SpaceX tried to get its 13th suborbital test flight of its Starship and Super Heavy rocket off the ground from Texas on Thursday, but its engines had an automatic shutdown just as they were beginning to fire with the countdown clock hitting zero. "We're not going to be launching today. We got all the way down to startup, triggered a hold on the booster, and that shut down the engines as they were starting to ignite," said SpaceX commentator Dan Huot. Teams will offload propellants and a new launch date will be announced at a later time. "We'll dig in with the teams, figure out what happened, and figure out when our next attempt is going to be," Huot said. The delay comes as the company attempts to drive toward its goal of beginning operational missions from Florida potentially before the end of the year. The massive rocket had been targeting launch during a 90-minute window that opened at 6:45 p.m. from the company's Starbase site on the southeast Texas coast. When it does eventually launch, the flight plan looks to send the Starship upper stage more than halfway around the world to land with a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the coast of western Australia while the Super Heavy booster will try for a controlled landing in the Gulf shortly after liftoff and separation. The launch comes about two months since the 12th test flight that was the first time Elon Musk's company flew Version 3 of the rocket. That mission suffered an uncontrolled landing of its booster in the Gulf that ultimately led to the rocket's grounding by the Federal Aviation Administration. The required mishap investigation that was led by SpaceX was accepted by the FAA, which announced Monday Starship was clear to fly again. "There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight," SpaceX stated on a mission update on its website. The company said that on the 12th flight after the booster separation, the engine setup and flip maneuver caused it to be off by about 90 degrees, which led to its failure and ultimate crash into the Gulf. Five of its 33 Raptor engines had issues as they tried to relight and that caused a planned "boostback burn" to end early. "The startup sequence has been modified to be more robust to timing variability and more reliably flip in the desired direction, which is done to increase overall performance," SpaceX stated. "The Super Heavy on this upcoming flight has hardware modifications to improve re-light reliability along with updates to engine alarms and aborts to match the conditions seen in the multi-engine flight environment." While the booster failed to make a controlled return on Flight 12, the upper stage achieved its goals of getting to the landing site in the Indian Ocean, although minus one of the three Raptor vacuum engines, which was lost about 40 seconds after stage separation. "The vehicle was able to demonstrate its engine out capability and reach its planned suborbital trajectory," SpaceX stated. "Several hardware and operational modifications have been made to address the interconnected causes with additional reliability improvements planned in upcoming versions of the Raptor engine." Something new on this mission will be the deployment of real Starlink satellites during flight. Previous Starship test flights have tried out simulators deployed during the suborbital missions. These large V3 satellites, which are too big for launches on SpaceX's current Falcon 9 rockets, will have a test run during which they will attempt to extend their solar array and antennas, and connect to the existing Starlink satellite constellation using high-capacity lasers. The Starlink satellites' lives will be short-lived, though, as they follow the Starship upper stage after deployment for an eventual reentry into the Earth's atmosphere to crash down over the Indian Ocean about 20 minutes after their deployment. Six of the 20 satellites also have cameras on board to scan Starship's heat shield, which continues to be modified for the rocket's ultimate operational configuration. Those flights are slated to take place in Florida where SpaceX continues to build out three Starship launch towers. The first is at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39-A while two more are in the works at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37. The Space Force in late 2025 indicated it was prepared to support the first Starship launch on the Space Coast by mid 2026 while SpaceX has stated it would still try to launch before the end of the year. SpaceX also is nearing completion of its Gigabay manufacturing site at KSC where it will build out future Starship upper stages and Super Heavy boosters, part of a $1.8 billion investment in Space Coast operations. The first flights from KSC, though, will feature rockets shipped over from Texas until Florida's Gigabay is up and running. SpaceX ultimately is aiming for as many as 120 flights a year from across the three launch pads in Florida, a number that has raised criticism for its impact on commercial airspace. Also of concern has been its sonic boom potential during both booster landings and upper stage Starship return-to-launch-site flights that would bring it across Central Florida similar to how the space shuttle used to land back at KSC. The rocket is the most powerful to ever launch to space with nearly 17 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, nearly doubling the power of NASA's Space Launch System rocket. Starship's first test flight came in April 2023 and progress seemed to be on a good trajectory with the company managing to capture its first Super Heavy booster back at the launch tower using its swiveling "chopsticks" arms on its fifth-ever launch in October 2024. Flights in early 2025, though, ended in a series of failures including two in which the Starship upper stage disintegrated in a fiery cascade of debris across the skies visible from Florida and the Caribbean. It ended 2025, though, with two successful test flights using Version 2 of Starship followed by more than a seven-month lull before the first launch of Version 3 in May of this year. NASA is eagerly awaiting operational Starship flights as a version of the rocket is tasked to become a moon lander as part of the Artemis program. The Artemis III mission planned for mid-2027 is seeking to test out a crewed Orion spacecraft's ability to dock with a pathfinder version of Starship as well as Blue Origin's Blue Moon MK2 lander. Blue Origin, though, has to get its Canaveral launch site rebuilt after a New Glenn rocket exploded on the pad during a test hot fire earlier this year.
SpaceX Starship launch aborted on the pad at the last moment
SpaceX's mega Starship rocket came within a second or so from blasting off on a test flight Thursday but some of the engines failed to start, triggering a launch abort. Elon Musk's company said it will have to figure out what went wrong before making another attempt to send Starship on a space-skimming flight halfway around the world. It was supposed to be the 13th flight for Starship, which at 407 feet (124 meters) tall with 33 main engines is the world's biggest and most powerful rocket. SpaceX's launch webcast showed the start of engine ignition three seconds before the planned liftoff, viewed from a drone high above the pad. Whichever engines fired abruptly shut down, with the rocket remaining anchored to the pad. The launch team immediately began draining the fuel from the rocket. "Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days," Musk announced via X. Everything had been going SpaceX's way, including the weather, until the partial engine ignition. Twenty of SpaceX's newest and most advanced Starlinks were on board Starship for release during the planned hourlong flight. The internet satellites were going to try communicating with Starlinks already in orbit while taking photos of Starship's heat shield. Neither the first-stage booster nor spacecraft were meant to be recovered, with both ending up in the sea. NASA is counting on Starship to land its astronauts on the moon in the next few years. The space agency has hired SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to build and fly the lunar landers that will return humanity to the surface of the moon after an absence of more than half a century. Both companies need to have their landers -- Starship and Blue Moon -- ready to fly by next year so that the newly named Artemis III crew can practice docking their capsule with them in orbit around Earth. The mission after that -- Artemis IV planned for no earlier than 2028 -- would use one of those landers to take two astronauts to the moon's south polar region. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
SpaceX Starship launch aborted at the last moment
SpaceX's mega Starship rocket has come within a second or so from blasting off on a test flight but some of the engines failed to start, triggering a launch abort. Elon Musk's company said it will have to figure out what went wrong on Thursday before making another attempt to send Starship on a space-skimming journey halfway around the world. It was supposed to be the 13th flight for Starship, which at 124m tall with 33 main engines is the world's biggest and most powerful rocket. SpaceX's launch webcast showed the start of engine ignition three seconds before the planned liftoff, viewed from a drone high above the pad. Although the company did not elaborate, on-screen data showed four engines not firing, with the remaining 29 engines immediately shutting down and keeping the rocket anchored to the pad. It was the first time a full-scale Starship experienced a last-second abort like this. The launch team immediately began draining the fuel from the rocket. "Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days," Musk announced via X. Everything was going SpaceX's way, even the weather, until the partial engine ignition. In the end, the rocket's automatic launch system worked as planned by halting everything. Too few operating engines could have doomed the launch. Some earlier Starship flights ended in explosive fireballs. Elon Musk's company had newest, most advanced Starlinks aboard Twenty of SpaceX's newest and most advanced Starlinks were on board Starship for release during the planned hour-long flight. The internet satellites were going to try communicating with Starlinks already in orbit while taking photos of Starship's heat shield. Neither the first-stage booster nor spacecraft were meant to be recovered, with both ending up in the sea. The rocket's automatic launch system worked as planned by halting everything. Too few operating engines could have resulted in a failed launch. Some earlier Starship flights, for example, ended in explosive fireballs.
Gecko Robotics is growing again
Why it matters: Pittsburgh's unicorn companies are looking to grow and help transition the regional economy to more focus on high-tech companies. The big picture: Gecko develops robots that climb and inspect infrastructure -- such as power plants, aircraft carriers and submarines -- and reduce costs by saving workers from having to perform inspections themselves. Driving the news: Gecko announced Wednesday at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit in Carlisle that it will open a new 10,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Sewickley soon. Zoom in: The new facility will serve as a manufacturing and integration hub where Gecko's robotics and its Cantilever software will help defense manufacturers build components more efficiently. What they're saying: "The future will be built by combining advanced robotics, AI, and skilled workers into a single manufacturing ecosystem," said CEO Jake Loosararian. "By bringing together world-class partners, software, and automation in Pittsburgh, we're helping manufacturers produce the critical systems our military depends on faster, more safely, and with higher quality." Between the lines: Loosararian has said local tech companies need to expand locally instead of decamping for bigger tech markets on the coasts. What's next: Gecko spokesperson Steve Bourner tells Axios the Sewickley facility will be open within weeks and that robots are currently operating inside.
Microsoft sharpens AI sales pitch against OpenAI and Anthropic
Microsoft is reportedly training its sales teams to compete aggressively against leading artificial intelligence (AI) firms, Anthropic and OpenAI. The strategy involves highlighting the shortcomings of their products. According to a Bloomberg report, the tech giant is focusing on lower costs, better security controls, and a more comprehensive suite of products in its pitch.
SpaceX vs. Rocket Lab: Which Is the Better Space Stock to Buy Right Now?
Space stocks are on many investors' minds these days, but going all-in on this sector right now comes with considerable risk, as most rocket stocks are volatile. Still, two stocks that are no doubt near the top of many investors' watch lists are Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX) and Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB). Here's which one looks like the better buy right now. Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue " Image source: Getty Images. The case for SpaceX What was once just a rocket company has morphed into an expanding technology behemoth with its sights set on both the space and artificial intelligence (AI) markets. SpaceX has highly ambitious goals for both, including colonizing Mars, launching orbital data centers, expanding its Starlink satellite internet business, and building what some analysts are calling a "sovereign AI" platform in which the company controls the AI model, chip designs, processor manufacturing, and everything in between. That's part of the appeal of SpaceX for some investors -- the company is trying big things, like developing its Starship rocket, which it says will reduce the costs of putting payloads into orbit by at least 90%, or deploying a constellation of data center satellites. Morningstar research puts the total addressable market for its Starlink connectivity business at $129 billion. And the company is making headway on some of its goals. It has 12 million Starlink internet subscribers and generated $1.9 billion in operating profit from that business in the most recent quarter. SpaceX is also making progress with its neocloud business, which leases data center capacity (Earth-bound, for now) to tech companies including Alphabet and Anthropic. That business has already signed more than $81 billion in contracts. And then there's the potential for SpaceX to merge with Elon Musk's other large company, Tesla. That could expand SpaceX's opportunities into the autonomous vehicle and humanoid robot markets, the latter of which could be worth $3 trillion by 2050, according to a Morgan Stanley forecast. The case for Rocket Lab There's some overlap between Rocket Lab and SpaceX, though Rocket Lab isn't building AI data centers or planning to merge with a humanoid robotics company (as of now). The company is instead mostly focused on launching rockets for its customers and on expanding its satellite communications network through its recently announced purchase of Iridium Communications. Rocket Lab has agreed to pay $8 billion for Iridium, and is expected to close on the deal next year, giving it 2.5 million satellite-based mobile subscribers. The service is mainly geared toward the private and government sectors, in contrast to Starlink, which caters more to customers who want at-home internet service. Iridium is profitable, with $114 million in net earnings last year, and the deal will help Rocket Lab expand its satellite communications network to better compete with SpaceX. But Rocket Lab's primary business is sending payloads into space, and in the first quarter, the company signed 31 new deals, selling more launches than it did in all of 2025. The company also has some major launch contracts already signed, including with the U.S. government to establish the satellite system for the proposed Golden Dome missile defense system. It also has contracts for missile tracking and military communications. Verdict: Rocket Lab is the better stock to buy right now While Rocket Lab isn't profitable, its loss of $0.07 per share in Q1 was an improvement from its loss of $0.12 per share in the prior-year quarter. Revenue is also growing at a healthy clip, rising 64% to $200 million. In contrast, SpaceX's sales rose just 15% in Q1 to $4.7 billion, and the company's loss of $3.29 per share was dramatically worse than its $0.41 per share loss in the year-ago quarter. SpaceX's massive losses have been fueled by sharp increases in its capital expenditures, which reached $10 billion in Q1 2026 alone, compared to $27 billion for all of 2025. That heavy spending should give investors pause, and so should the lofty valuation of its stock. SpaceX trades at a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of about 94 compared to Rocket Lab's P/S ratio of 66. While neither stock is cheap, SpaceX's shares trade at a much higher premium even as the company ramps up spending and its losses widen. All of which means that Rocket Lab looks like the better space stock to buy right now. Don't miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a "Double Down" stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you're worried you've already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it's too late. And the numbers speak for themselves: * Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you'd have $550,021!* * Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you'd have $60,010!* * Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you'd have $396,542!* Right now, we're issuing "Double Down" alerts for three incredible companies, available when you join Stock Advisor, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon. See the 3 stocks " *Stock Advisor returns as of July 16, 2026. Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Rocket Lab, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Moonshot AI plans Kimi K3 launch to challenge Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8
Beijing-based startup with 2.5 trillion parameter model is turning the global AI race into a pricing and performance war that crypto-adjacent investors can't ignore A Chinese AI startup most people outside tech circles have never heard of is about to pick a very public fight with one of the biggest names in American artificial intelligence. Moonshot AI, a Beijing-based company founded just over three years ago, is preparing to launch its Kimi K3 model with a stated goal of going head-to-head with Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8. The launch window has leaked as around July 15, and the specs are genuinely eye-catching: roughly 2.5 trillion parameters, a 1-million-token context window, and a Mixture-of-Experts architecture designed for coding and agentic tasks. For context, a 1-million-token context window means the model can process the equivalent of several full-length novels in a single prompt. What Moonshot is actually building Moonshot AI was founded in March 2023 by Tsinghua University alumni, with CEO Yang Zhilin at the helm. The company reached a unicorn valuation of around $3 billion shortly after its founding. Kimi K2.6, launched in April, reportedly posted leading scores on coding benchmarks against Anthropic's Claude models. Now K3 is stepping up with a new architecture and a parameter count that dwarfs most publicly known models. The Mixture-of-Experts approach routes queries to specialized sub-networks instead of running every input through all 2.5 trillion parameters. The result is a model that can be massive in total capacity but efficient in actual compute per query. Moonshot is also leaning into open weights, meaning developers can inspect and build on the model's internals rather than treating it as a black box. This is a deliberate competitive choice against Anthropic's closed-model approach, and it matters for pricing. Open-weight models tend to drive costs down because they invite competition at the infrastructure layer. A limited-time API recharge promotion briefly appeared online before the official announcement, suggesting Moonshot is planning an aggressive marketing push to lock in early adopters and developers. Why crypto investors should care about an AI model launch There are no reported direct ties between Moonshot AI and digital assets. But the AI compute market is one of the fastest-growing demand drivers for decentralized GPU networks like Render, Akash, and io.net. Every time a new open-weight model drops with competitive performance against closed alternatives, it expands the universe of developers who can deploy AI workloads outside the walled gardens of OpenAI and Anthropic. If Kimi K3 delivers Claude Opus-level performance at a fraction of the cost, which is the explicit goal, it compresses margins for every company selling AI inference. Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google all charge premium rates for their top-tier models. A credible open-weight alternative at 2.5 trillion parameters forces those prices down, which in turn makes decentralized compute networks more cost-competitive relative to centralized cloud providers. The US-China AI competition is intensifying, and export controls on advanced chips have pushed Chinese labs to optimize architectures for efficiency rather than brute-force compute. Mixture-of-Experts is partly an answer to hardware constraints. What to watch from here The benchmark claims from K2.6 were impressive, but vendor-reported benchmarks are the AI equivalent of a company citing its own customer satisfaction survey. Independent testing of K3 after launch will be the real litmus test. For crypto market participants specifically, watch the decentralized compute sector. Every major open-weight model release has historically correlated with increased activity on GPU marketplace protocols. Tokens tied to AI inference, model hosting, and decentralized training could see renewed interest if K3 lives up to the hype.
SpaceX shares slide below IPO price for first time - Peoples Gazette Nigeria
Elon Musk-owned SpaceX's shares stumbled below their initial public offering (IPO) price for the first time on Wednesday, just over a month after the company went public. The process made the South African-born businessman the world's first trillionaire. According to Reuters, the share price stumbled as low as $132.28 -- below the $135 IPO price on Wednesday -- before crawling back to close the day's trading at $135.27. According to experts, the fall was a reminder that enthusiasm on Wall Street can wane rapidly after the rockets-to-AI firm raised $85.7 billion and briefly propelled the company to a market value of more than $2.6 trillion, surpassing technology giants such as Microsoft and Amazon. However, SpaceX's market value dropped sharply to $1.78 trillion on Wednesday afternoon before slowly recovering. Despite the share price closing 28 cents above its IPO price, it marked a 40 per cent decline from a high of $225.64 reached shortly after the stock started trading. Meanwhile, Justus Parmar, chief executive officer of SpaceX investor Fortuna Investments, attributed the shares' decline to investors liquidating their holdings in large numbers. Interactive Brokers' chief market analyst, Steve Sosnick, stated, "There hasn't been anything lately to remind people of some of the catalysts for why they bought SpaceX. The fact that a stock has fallen a couple of dollars below its IPO price in itself is not a tragedy, but SpaceX is heavily watched and has an important role in investor psyche."
SpaceX vs. Rocket Lab: Which Is the Better Space Stock to Buy Right Now?
Space stocks are on many investors' minds these days, but going all-in on this sector right now comes with considerable risk, as most rocket stocks are volatile. Still, two stocks that are no doubt near the top of many investors' watch lists are Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX) and Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB). Here's which one looks like the better buy right now. Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue " The case for SpaceX What was once just a rocket company has morphed into an expanding technology behemoth with its sights set on both the space and artificial intelligence (AI) markets. SpaceX has highly ambitious goals for both, including colonizing Mars, launching orbital data centers, expanding its Starlink satellite internet business, and building what some analysts are calling a "sovereign AI" platform in which the company controls the AI model, chip designs, processor manufacturing, and everything in between. That's part of the appeal of SpaceX for some investors -- the company is trying big things, like developing its Starship rocket, which it says will reduce the costs of putting payloads into orbit by at least 90%, or deploying a constellation of data center satellites. Morningstar research puts the total addressable market for its Starlink connectivity business at $129 billion. And the company is making headway on some of its goals. It has 12 million Starlink internet subscribers and generated $1.9 billion in operating profit from that business in the most recent quarter. SpaceX is also making progress with its neocloud business, which leases data center capacity (Earth-bound, for now) to tech companies including Alphabet and Anthropic. That business has already signed more than $81 billion in contracts. And then there's the potential for SpaceX to merge with Elon Musk's other large company, Tesla. That could expand SpaceX's opportunities into the autonomous vehicle and humanoid robot markets, the latter of which could be worth $3 trillion by 2050, according to a Morgan Stanley forecast. The case for Rocket Lab There's some overlap between Rocket Lab and SpaceX, though Rocket Lab isn't building AI data centers or planning to merge with a humanoid robotics company (as of now). The company is instead mostly focused on launching rockets for its customers and on expanding its satellite communications network through its recently announced purchase of Iridium Communications.
Polymarket Traders Gaming Bitcoin Bets?
Polymarket Traders Gaming Bitcoin Bets? Study Points to Ongoing Price Manipulation A study highlighting alleged manipulation of Polymarket's 5-minute Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) binary contracts has sparked fresh scrutiny for the decentralized prediction platform. Last-Minute Deception? The paper, co-authored by researchers from Stanford University and Singapore Management University, was published on July 1 and first reported by Bloomberg. The contract in question is binary. It delivers a $1 payout if Bitcoin's price at the end of the 5-minute interval exceeds its price at the start of the interval; otherwise, the payout is $0 The study found that traders game the contract by buying BTC on Binance during the closing seconds to influence the settlement price higher than the opening price. The Two-Trade Tactic Ruizhe Jia, one of the researchers, described a two-trade manipulation tactic. Traders first buy the "Up" outcome on Polymarket, then purchase Bitcoin on Binance in the final seconds to push the price across the settlement threshold. Jia posted a chart highlighting sudden order flow spikes in the final 10 seconds, noting that this pattern didn't appear before the bet launched. Additionally, the study found that price moves in the closing seconds are quickly reversed -- a pattern that did not exist earlier. The analysis found that manipulators profited $8.2 million, while ordinary traders lost $7.6 million over two months. Polymarket didn't immediately return Benzinga's request for comment. The Big Debate Prediction markets, including Polymarket, are under growing scrutiny. Large, suspiciously well-timed bets on military operations in Iran and Venezuela have raised major red flags. Earlier this year, a U.S. soldier was charged with allegedly using classified information to profit from a bet linked to the capture of Venezuela's ousted leader, Nicolás Maduro. However, Robin Hanson, known for his pioneering work in the field of prediction markets, has accused critics and the media of exaggerating "imperfections" in the industry. He told Benzinga that a small number of events have been reported out of proportion to their actual importance. Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was exchanging hands at $64,087.38, down 1.03% over the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.
SpaceX to launch giant starship rocket in first flight since IPO
Success could lead to the first orbital mission and supports NASA contracts worth US$4 billion for moon landings by 2028. SpaceX will attempt a major test flight of its massive Starship rocket on July 16, a milestone for a vehicle that's a critical part of Elon Musk's plans for the space, satellite and artificial intelligence conglomerate. The launch, targeted for 5.45pm local time (6.45am on July 17 Singapore time) from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas, marks the second flight of the latest iteration of the rocket, dubbed Version 3 or V3. The rocket will be carrying to space upgraded Starlink satellites that are intended to burn up later in the atmosphere as part of the test mission. The rocket is central to Musk's ambitions to put data centres in space, expand the Starlink communications network and send humans to the moon and Mars. But it has faced a rocky development path marred by explosive setbacks, malfunctions and delays. The Starship test is the rocket's 13th flight and first since SpaceX's blockbuster initial public offering in June that raised some US$86 billion (S$111 billion). Shares of SpaceX soared shortly after their debut but more recently slumped, closing on July 15 near its IPO price of US$135. Despite the decline, Wall Street analysts still remain largely bullish on the stock. Musk's company has designed Starship to be fully reusable, something no other rocket maker has achieved, with both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft intended to return to Earth intact after each launch so they can fly to space again. Musk has predicted that SpaceX could achieve full reusability with the upgraded V3 rocket before the end of the year. SpaceX has spent more than US$15 billion developing Starship. During the most recent test flight in May, Starship successfully deployed mock satellites, although the rocket's booster spun out of control and one of its engines shut down early. SpaceX has since made hardware and software modifications to correct these issues, according to a post on the company's website. "We believe that if SpaceX can keep all major engines healthy, execute the planned relight and landing sequence, and bring back stronger heat-shield and control-surface data, Flight 13 would represent a meaningful step beyond Flight 12," said Raymond James analyst Brian Gesuale in a note on July 13. Starship becoming operational "is the critical path to the SpaceX investment thesis," he added. A successful Starship test could also lead to the company attempting to reach orbit with the vehicle for the first time on the next flight, according to Stifel analyst Jonathan Siegmann. SpaceX holds US$4 billion worth of NASA contracts for Starship to land astronauts on the moon as soon as 2028. To do so, SpaceX will have to refuel the vehicle in space, launch it a dozen times or more in a row and ensure the vehicle is safe to hold humans - a demanding list of tasks for a vehicle which has yet to complete a full orbital mission. The July 16 flight plan will look similar to previous test missions. At lift-off, the Super Heavy booster will ignite 33 Raptor engines and send Starship on its way to space, where it will reach near orbital speeds. The booster will separate from Starship and then attempt to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico. While in space, Starship will attempt a number of tests, including relighting one of its engines and deploying 20 Starlink satellites. These satellites will extend their solar arrays and attempt to connect to the broader Starlink network using laser-based communications. About 20 minutes after deployment, the satellites should fall back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere. About an hour after liftoff, Starship is scheduled to splash down in the Indian Ocean. BLOOMBERG
Crusoe and Lancium plan to build a new AI data center in Childress, Texas
As w.media's Europe and Americas correspondent, Conor covers the data center industry in the western hemisphere. Conor's decade long experience spans digital infrastructure, software, cybersecurity, telecom, biotech, and construction. Crusoe, an AI factory company in partnership with Lancium, an energy technology and infrastructure company, is planning to develop a 1 GW AI data center campus in Childress, Texas. The facility will come up on a 270-acre site, with construction scheduled to begin in Q1 2026. The grid-connected facility is being built to support the AI computing requirements of a leading hyperscale technology company. According to a press release, the companies are applying the same development model used for their AI data center campus in Abilene, Texas. Under the agreement, Lancium will own the land, secure the power interconnection, and manage the site's energy infrastructure while Crusoe will design, build, and operate the data center under the partnership. Chase Lochmiller, Co-founder and CEO, Crusoe, said, "This campus represents a major milestone in Crusoe's deep commitment to the state of Texas, working with Lancium again, in the same partnership model we built together in Abilene, made Childress an easy choice for our next site." Michael McNamara, CEO, Lancium, said, "Childress is a natural next step in our partnership with Crusoe, we are deeply committed to working with local stakeholders to advance a model of development that addresses the broader needs of the community we will share for a very long time." The Childress data center campus will incorporate behind-the-meter solar generation and battery energy storage to support on-site power needs and reduce reliance on the transmission grid. The facility will use a closed-loop, non-evaporative liquid cooling system designed to minimize water consumption. The project builds on Lancium and Crusoe's existing data center developments in Texas, including the 1.2 GW campus in Abilene and a second 900 MW campus under construction on adjacent Lancium-owned property.
Polymarket odds hold: 66.5% for September Fed no-change
predict.info -- Premium Domain For Sale Domain only: USD 200,000. Prediction platform technology priced separately. predict.info Treasury Yields and Jobs-Data Watch Trigger Polymarket Repricing on the September 2026 Fed Decision Ladder Polymarket's "Fed Decision in September?" ladder is pricing "No change" as the leading outcome at 66.5% with $3.11M in volume, holding flat on the latest update. The move comes as traders digest a rates-sensitive backdrop in Treasuries, and the ladder's per-outcome Yes/No pricing shows where conviction is concentrated. Key Takeaways * Prediction: Polymarket implies a 66.5% chance of "No change" after the September 2026 Fed meeting. * Basis: Against a Treasury-yield backdrop tied to upcoming employment data, the market's ladder keeps "No change" well ahead of hike/cut outcomes. * Timing: The contract resolves on 2026-09-16; the latest summary shows +1.0 pp over 24h and +1.0 pp over 7d. U.S. Treasury yields edged higher as Wall Street awaited key employment data, with the 10-year yield up a bit over 2 bps to 4.573% and the 2-year up a bit over 2 bps to 4.158%. The report also cited a disinflationary impulse after a producer price index decline, alongside attention on retail sales and jobless claims for fresh signals on economic conditions. Odds Ladder Breakdown: "No Change" 66.5% on $3.11M Volume vs 25 bps Hike 28.5% and 25 bps Cut 4.15% This Polymarket market is a price-ladder-style set of outcomes, so each row is its own binary contract with explicit Yes and No odds rather than a single "settlement price" bet. Traders currently price "No change" at Yes 66.5% / No 33.5%, versus a "25 bps increase" at Yes 28.5% / No 71.5% and a "25 bps decrease" at Yes 4.15% / No 95.85% (tail outcomes are even smaller: "50+ bps increase" Yes 0.55% / No 99.45%, "50+ bps decrease" Yes 2.25% / No 97.75%). Even with the latest snapshot marked flat at 66.5%, the historical summary flags high volatility and a reversal detected, with "No change" still running above its avg_last_5 of 64.2 and up +1.0 pp over both 24h and 7d -- signaling a stable consensus that has nonetheless seen meaningful back-and-forth. Compared with slower narrative updates, this continuously traded ladder makes the disagreement visible: most probability mass sits in "no change" and "25 bps increase," while cuts remain priced as low-likelihood hedges into the 2026-09-16 resolution. If upcoming macro releases materially shift rate expectations, watch whether probability migrates between the two dominant rungs ("No change" and "25 bps increase") and whether the high-volatility/reversal pattern persists as volume builds into the 2026-09-16 resolution date. What Fed-Ladder Traders Watch Next on Polymarket: CPI/PCE Prints, Recession Risk, and Rate-Cut Timing Contracts Across M Beyond the September ladder, traders on Polymarket are also benchmarking near-term and path-dependent macro bets that can reprice quickly as data hits. "Fed Decision in July?" currently shows 96.25% on "No change" with $65,055,846 in volume, while "How many Fed rate cuts in 2026?" has "0 (0 bps)" at 82.5% on $42,667,930, offering a cleaner read on the market's year-ahead policy stance. For sequencing, "Fed decisions (Jun-Sep)" prices "Pause-Pause-Pause" at 66.5% on $305,790, and outside rates altogether, liquidity also clusters in headline event markets like "Ballon d'Or Winner 2026," led by "Lionel Messi" at 41.45% with $7,897,827 traded. Odds Trend By the Numbers * Platform: Polymarket * Market: Fed Decision in September? * Contract type: Price strike ladder: each rung has separate Yes/No; Yes means the spot price is above that USD strike at settlement. * Resolution window: Sep 16, 2026 (UTC) * Status: Active (open for trading) * Volume: ~$3,105,640 Top strike rungs +1 more strikes not shown
Elon Musk loses trillionaire status as SpaceX stock deflates -- and Wisconsin officials want him investigated for election 'bribery' | Fortune
📬 Would you prefer to receive this information in your email inbox every morning before the markets open in New York? Sign up here. SpaceX loses $1 trillion in market cap as tech stocks lead sharp declines in Asia and Europe Asian markets led a global selloff in the stock markets today as the central bank of South Korea raised its interest rates and warned there would be more rate hikes to come, to fight off persistent inflation. Asia is particularly exposed to increasing oil prices caused by the Iran war because it imports much of its fuel. The tech-heavy KOSPI was down 6.37% today, sinking deeper into correction territory -- it has shed 21.84% over the last month. Nasdaq 100 futures are down 0.19% this morning prior to the open in New York. SpaceX was down 0.6% at the close yesterday and although it gained 0.37% in overnight trading the stock has lost more than $1 trillion in value since its peak price of $225 per share. The stock dipped below its IPO launch price of $135, recovering to just $135.27. The downward drift of the stock means that Elon Musk is no longer technically a trillionaire. He's worth "only" $856 billion today, according to Bloomberg's billionaire index. * S&P 500 futures were flat this morning. The index rose 0.38% yesterday. * In Europe, the Stoxx 600 was down 0.26% in early trading and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.37% before lunch. * Asia: South Korea's KOSPI was down 6.37%. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 2.79%. India's Nifty 50 was up 0.15%. China's CSI 300 was down 1.85%. * Brent crude was $84 per barrel this morning, down from a high of $86 yesterday. * Bitcoin was $64K. MORE FROM FORTUNE The MacKenzie Scott paradox: How a bull market lets billionaires give away tens of billions without getting poorer - Sydney Lake As banks post blowout earnings, CEOs reckon with America's inequality gap - Diane Brady Klook cofounder Ethan Lin thinks the U.S. can help grow one of Asia's largest travel platforms - Angelica Ang 'We did not adapt and move quickly enough': IBM CEO's admission of weakness fails to prevent historic 25% stock crash - Tatiana Sataua Why IBM just suffered its worst stock crash of all time -- and what it says about the market's two bubbles - Nick Lichtenberg LAPD was one of Flock Safety's biggest government customers. Now it's renegotiating its partnership over 'serious concerns around civil liberties' - Sasha Rogelberg Chipotle is trying to take over Mexico through its softest border town - Mia Osmonbekov Pete Hegseth wants to test troops for 'testosterone deficiency' -- literally - AP ONE BIG THING Hiding in plain sight: Disney's $3 billion cruise ship business Disney has historically refused to describe in detail the revenues earned by its growing cruise ship business. Its CFO, Hugh Johnston, has declined to do so on previous earnings calls. "We don't break out cruise ships," explained Hugh Johnston on its Q3 call last year. But Fortune's Christian Sylt can reveal that a Disney filing in the U.K. -- where its ships are based for tax reasons -- reveals that cruise revenue passed the $3 billion mark last year for the first time, fuelled by the addition of a sixth ship to its fleet as part of a $12 billion expansion. * Read all the details here. CRUDE REALITY Why is oil so cheap? The price of oil is $84 per barrel this morning, which is bad enough (before the war with Iran started it was just over $60). Following the outbreak of the hostilities, it peaked at $114. So one question is, why is the price of oil so low? After all, the Strait of Hormuz is now in its sixth month of total or partial closure. The supply of oil is more constrained than ever, but its price is nowhere near peak pessimism. One reason for that is that, in fact, the world still has an unusually large amount of stored oil on hand, as this chart from Bridget Payne of Oxford Economics shows. "Despite record drawdowns, total global oil inventories remain above their recent historical average, continuing to reduce the risk of an acute crude shortage. However, much of this buffer is held as crude and offers limited protection against lower refinery output, weaker middle-distillate yields, and the loss of major diesel exporters" such as Russia. She warns that the Strait could be closed for much of the rest of the year. IRAN Trump considers boots-on-the-ground escalation of war against Iran President Trump is considering an escalation of the war against Iran, and has been briefed on options such an invasion of Kharg Island (long a Trump obsession) or bombing "Pickaxe Mountain," a nuclear site with an underground tunnel complex, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Kharg operation would put U.S. boots on the ground in Iranian territory. Over the last 24 hours, Iran attacked U.S. sites in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. The U.S. continued a wave of attacks on Iranian coastal sites to "further degrade Iran's ability to threaten innocent mariners" in the Strait of Hormuz," Centcom said. The U.S. also disabled an oil tanker in the Gulf. What Iran says: "As long as the United States does not accept the Iranian legal system, this strait will remain closed," according to the semi-official Iranian Students' News Agency. TRUMPWORLD Dan Ives' new merchant bank has longstanding ties to Trump Media & Technology Group When tech bull analyst Dan Ives announced he was leaving Wedbush to start what he described as a "modern merchant bank for the age of AI," many were puzzled by the news. Ives is possibly the most famous tech stock analyst in the U.S. and he is a regular on CNN. It was also not entirely clear why the world of AI needs a merchant bank, given that AI companies have not had difficulty finding investment capital. The FT has shone some light on the situation. The bank will be named "Yorkville Ives." The Yorkville name refers to Yorkville Securities or Yorkville Advisors, the New Jersey-based group that has bankrolled Trump Media & Technology Group, the company that owns Truth Social and a host of video streaming services. TMTG's stock is down 27.72% year-to-date. Fortune's archive has a ton of stories on Yorkville and its dealings with the Trump empire. Here are three of them: CHART OF THE DAY Countries ranked by average inflation since COVID If you think inflation is bad in the U.S. or Europe, remember, it could be worse. Argentina and Turkey have both had the worst inflation since the pandemic. The best performers, however, are Switzerland and China, both of which have had inflation near 1% throughout. "Switzerland remains in a league of its own," says Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid in an email. "It's the only country globally to have seen CPI average below 2% since the end of Bretton Woods (>1971), and since Covid inflation has averaged just 1%." NUMBER OF THE DAY 1,000 The number of terawatt hours of electricity AI data centers will need by 2030 -- double the amount they consume today, according to Alpine Macro's Kelly Xu. The biggest source of that extra energy will be renewable, Xu estimates: "Renewables are expected to account for roughly 40% of additional electricity generation for data centers between 2025 and 2030 and more than one-third of the data center power mix by 2030." THE FRONT PAGES TODAY Dimon Warns of Broad Mythos Access, Calling It a Real Issue - Bloomberg Goldman's Former Top Lawyer Calls Epstein a 'Masterful Liar' - NYT TSMC to invest additional $100 billion in Arizona after second-quarter profit soars 77% - CNBC Trump imposes 25% tariffs on Brazilian goods - Axios The AI Backlash Has Tech Executives Fearing for Their Lives - WSJ JD Vance tells Joe Rogan Israel wants to keep Iran war going 'indefinitely,' Trump admin 'screwed up' on Epstein files - NY Post ONE MORE THING Wisconsin election panel asks prosecutors to probe Elon Musk over "bribery" allegations Remember when Elon Musk handed out money to people in Wisconsin if they promised to vote for his favored state Supreme Court candidates? That was probably illegal, a bipartisan panel has found. Musk likely broke Wisconsin law when he promised to hand out $1 million checks to voters in the 2025 election, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The panel last week referred two complaints to the Brown County district attorney's office, according to the AP. Musk potentially faces criminal charges for election bribery. Prosecutors have 40 days to report back to the commission.
SpaceX to launch giant starship rocket in first flight since IPO
SpaceX will attempt a major test flight of its massive Starship rocket on Thursday, a milestone for a vehicle that's a critical part of Elon Musk's plans for the space, satellite and artificial intelligence conglomerate. The launch, targeted for 5:45 p.m. local time from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas, marks the second flight of the latest iteration of the rocket, dubbed Version 3 or V3. The rocket will be carrying to space upgraded Starlink satellites that are intended to burn up later in the atmosphere as part of the test mission. The rocket is central to Musk's ambitions to put data centres in space, expand the Starlink communications network and send humans to the moon and Mars. But it has faced a rocky development path marred by explosive setbacks, malfunctions and delays. The Starship test is the rocket's 13th flight and first since SpaceX's blockbuster initial public offering in June that raised some $86 billion. Shares of SpaceX soared shortly after their debut but more recently slumped, closing on July 15 near its IPO price of $135. Despite the decline, Wall Street analysts still remain largely bullish on the stock. Musk's company has designed Starship to be fully reusable, something no other rocket maker has achieved, with both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft intended to return to Earth intact after each launch so they can fly to space again. Musk has predicted that SpaceX could achieve full reusability with the upgraded V3 rocket before the end of the year. SpaceX has spent more than $15 billion developing Starship. During the most recent test flight in May, Starship successfully deployed mock satellites, although the rocket's booster spun out of control and one of its engines shut down early. SpaceX has since made hardware and software modifications to correct these issues, according to a post on the company's website. "We believe that if SpaceX can keep all major engines healthy, execute the planned relight and landing sequence, and bring back stronger heat-shield and control-surface data, Flight 13 would represent a meaningful step beyond Flight 12," said Raymond James analyst Brian Gesuale in a note on July 13. Starship becoming operational "is the critical path to the SpaceX investment thesis," he added. A successful Starship test could also lead to the company attempting to reach orbit with the vehicle for the first time on the next flight, according to Stifel analyst Jonathan Siegmann. SpaceX holds $4 billion worth of NASA contracts for Starship to land astronauts on the moon as soon as 2028. To do so, SpaceX will have to refuel the vehicle in space, launch it a dozen times or more in a row and ensure the vehicle is safe to hold humans -- a demanding list of tasks for a vehicle which has yet to complete a full orbital mission. Thursday's flight plan will look similar to previous test missions. At liftoff, the Super Heavy booster will ignite 33 Raptor engines and send Starship on its way to space, where it will reach near orbital speeds. The booster will separate from Starship and then attempt to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico. While in space, Starship will attempt a number of tests, including relighting one of its engines and deploying 20 Starlink satellites. These satellites will extend their solar arrays and attempt to connect to the broader Starlink network using laser-based communications. About 20 minutes after deployment, the satellites should fall back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere. About an hour after liftoff, Starship is scheduled to splash down in the Indian Ocean. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com ©2026 Bloomberg L.P. Published on July 16, 2026
Microsoft Wants Sales Team to Push Its Own AI Models Instead of Rivals OpenAI, Google and Anthropic: Repo
Copilot vs. Claude Comparison Raises Eyebrows According to the report, Copilot chief Jacob Andreou compared Copilot with Anthropic's Claude, saying it was slower, less accurate and did not have strong security integrations across Microsoft's Office apps. Microsoft did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently said companies "pay for intelligence twice" when they rely on third-party AI, warning that using outside models can expose valuable business knowledge to external vendors. Trading Metrics Microsoft has a market capitalization of $2.94 trillion, with a 52-week high of $555.45 and a 52-week low of $349.20. Over the past 12 months, the large-cap stock has dropped 21.75%. Price Action: The stock had closed on Wednesday at $395.63, up 2.78%, according to Benzinga Pro data. Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MSFT is experiencing medium-term consolidation along with short and long-term upward movement. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.
Microsoft Coaching Sales Teams on Pitches to Win Against OpenAI, Anthropic
Microsoft Corporation is the world's leader in the design, development and marketing of operating systems and software programs for PC's and servers. The group also builds and sells computer equipment. Net sales break down by activity as follows: - sale of operating systems and application development tools (42.9%): primarily for servers (Azure, SQL Server, Windows Server, Visual Studio, System Center, GitHub, etc.) and (Windows); - development of cloud-based software applications (37.7%): programs for productivity (Microsoft 365; Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher and Access), integrated management and customer relationship management (Dynamics 365), online file sharing and management (OneDrive), and unified and collaborative communications (Microsoft Teams); - other (19.4%): primarily sale of software licenses (Windows), tablets (Microsoft Surface), video game consoles and software (Xbox), computer accessories, etc. The United States accounts for 51.3% of net sales.
