SpaceX announced on Tuesday it would acquire Anysphere, the company behind AI coding platform Cursor, in a $60 billion all-stock deal. The acquisition follows Cursor's rapid revenue growth to a $4 billion annualized run rate, up from $3 billion in April. Investor Jason Calacanis, co-host of the All-In podcast, called the transaction the best acquisition since Instagram and YouTube, citing Cursor's growth trajectory and access to SpaceX's Colossus computing infrastructure as key factors that could strengthen its position in the AI coding market.
Calacanis Highlights Cursor Growth and Computing Access
Calacanis said on X that Cursor's growth trajectory and access to SpaceX's computing infrastructure could boost its position in the AI coding space. "At this pace, @cursor_ai will be the number one or two coding agent in a year," he wrote. He called it the "best acquisition since Instagram and YouTube" and said it has a "very impressive squad... now with unlimited compute behind them."
The deal gives Cursor access to SpaceX's Colossus data centers and provides SpaceX with one of the fastest-growing AI software businesses in the market. The acquisition also strengthens SpaceX's position in enterprise AI and coding tools, while giving Grok access to valuable developer workflows, coding requests and design decisions.
Calacanis Predicted SpaceX-Cursor Deal in April
Calacanis has been publicly bullish on a SpaceX-Cursor deal since April, when he said that a transaction was inevitable. "So, I think it's fait accompli that this deal is going to get done," he said on an episode of the All-In podcast.
At the time, Calacanis called Cursor a "money-printing machine" and pointed to its rapid growth trajectory. "They expect to end 2026 with a $6 billion rate. They're going to triple it," he said.
For Calacanis, the real attraction was SpaceX's computing infrastructure. "The key part of the story here is that Elon has 550,000 GPUs in Colossus," he said, adding that access to compute had become one of Cursor's biggest constraints. He summed up the deal as "peanut butter and chocolate."
Cursor Revenue Trails Instagram and YouTube Benchmarks
Calacanis' comparison invokes two of the most successful acquisitions in tech history. Instagram, which Meta Platforms acquired for $1 billion in 2012, generated $32 billion in U.S. advertising revenue in 2025, accounting for half of the company's U.S. ad revenue, according to Bloomberg, which cited research firm eMarketer. Alphabet acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006. According to Alphabet's latest annual results, YouTube generated over $60 billion in revenue during 2025 across advertising and subscriptions.
At $4 billion in annualized revenue, Cursor is already meaningful relative to SpaceX's existing business. SpaceX generated $18.7 billion in revenue in 2025, meaning Cursor's current run rate already represents about 21% of SpaceX's annual sales.
Using current revenue figures as a benchmark, Cursor would need to grow eightfold to reach Instagram's estimated $32 billion in annual revenue. To approach YouTube's current scale, it would need to expand about 15x from today's level to over $60 billion in annual revenue.
Retail Sentiment Shows Mixed Response to Acquisition
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment was 'bullish' on SpaceX (SPCX) amid 'extremely high' message volume, while Meta (META) drew 'bearish' sentiment and Alphabet (GOOGL) saw 'neutral' sentiment, both with 'normal' message volume.
So far this year, META is down 9%, making it the "Magnificent Seven's" third-worst performer, while GOOGL has climbed 19% to lead the group.
FAQ
What did SpaceX acquire on Tuesday?
SpaceX announced on Tuesday it would acquire Anysphere, the company behind AI coding platform Cursor, in a $60 billion all-stock deal. Cursor recently reached a $4 billion annualized revenue run rate, up from $3 billion in April.
Why did Jason Calacanis call the SpaceX-Cursor deal significant?
Calacanis called it the best acquisition since Instagram and YouTube, citing Cursor's growth trajectory and access to SpaceX's Colossus computing infrastructure. He noted that SpaceX has 550,000 GPUs in Colossus, addressing what had become one of Cursor's biggest constraints.
How does Cursor's revenue compare to Instagram and YouTube?
At $4 billion in annualized revenue, Cursor would need to grow eightfold to reach Instagram's estimated $32 billion in annual revenue and about 15x to approach YouTube's $60 billion revenue scale. Instagram generated $32 billion in U.S. advertising revenue in 2025, while YouTube generated over $60 billion in revenue during 2025 across advertising and subscriptions.
