Elon Musk is angry.
The CEO of Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX is used to controlling communication on everything that concerns him.
He is always in control whether it is Tesla, the manufacturer of electric vehicles, the aerospace company SpaceX or his tunneling company The Boring Company.
Basically, Musk is in charge of the Musk brand.
It is therefore no surprise to see the richest man in the world not be happy when he does not dictate the narrative on events that involve him and his companies.
This is what just happened with Ukraine.
CNN revealed on Oct. 13 that SpaceX had written to the Department of Defense (DoD) advising that if the government did not support some of the Starlink funding provided to Ukraine, the company would cut off that much-needed service.
A Big Threat
The media said in particular to have consulted a letter sent in September by the president of SpaceX.
"We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote in a letter to the Pentagon, CNN reported.
This revelation comes at a time when the billionaire is perceived in Ukraine and around the world as a hero for having provided this service to Ukrainians defending their country against Russia's invasion.
Starlink is particularly of use by civilians in areas under attack by Russia and in areas where communication infrastructure has been destroyed. Government officials and armed forces employ the service on the ground because it's secure.
Providing Starlink in Ukraine "has cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year," Musk said on Oct. 7. The figure could total $400 million for the next 12 months, CNN said.
The revelations also come at a time when relations between Musk and Ukraine are fragile following a controversial peace plan presented on October 3 by the billionaire and widely criticized by Ukrainians, including President Volodymyr Zelensky.
'Corruption at Its Finest'
"Strange that nothing was leaked about our competitors in space launch & communications, Lockheed [Martin] & Boeing, who get over $60B …" in US defense contracts Musk said on Twitter on Oct. 14.
The tech tycoon is clearly insinuating that the leaks came from the Pentagon and are meant to harm him and SpaceX. If we are to believe it, it would be a smear campaign. He goes on to suggest that he seems to know the author of the leaks. It would be a person identifying as a man according to Musk.
The individual is said to have acted out of self-interest as Musk suggests he wouldn't be surprised that once the individual leaves the Pentagon that they go to work for Boeing or Lockheed Martin.
"Wouldn’t be surprised to find this particular individual working there [at Boeing or Lockheed Martin] when he retires from DoD," the billionaire implied.
It is at this moment that he launches a serious accusation: "Corruption at its finest."
Basically, the serial entrepreneur, who plays the leading roles in the conquest of space, believes that the Pentagon, Boeing and Lockheed Martin eat out of each other's hand. According to him, there would thus be a conflict of interest. Musk, however, does not provide evidence to back up his claims.
"We don't have anything to share," a Boeing spokesperson told TheStreet.
SpaceX v. Boeing
The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin did not respond to requests to comment.
Defense contract spending totaled $408.4 billion in fiscal 2021, down $40.3 billion from 2020, according to Bloomberg. Lockheed Martin with contracts valued at $40.2 billion and Boeing at $22.1 billion are the Pentagon's top two suppliers.
SpaceX is not in the top 10, which mainly includes defense groups and pharmaceutical and biotech groups such as Pfizer (PFE), Moderna (MRNA), Humana (HUM) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN). The presence of Big Pharma is undoubtedly explained by the covid-19 pandemic.
SpaceX and Boeing are rivals in transporting astronauts to outer space. Until last May, Musk's company, through SpaceX's crew Dragon, had a monopoly on transporting humans to the International Space Station (ISS) after NASA decided to stop using the Russians and Soyuz.
But Starliner, a space capsule developed by Boeing, successfully completed a mission last May, which gives SpaceX some competition.
It should be noted that there was no human on board Starliner. It was a mannequin instead.
