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SpaceX is not a public company so maximising profit is much less of an issue for it.

James Ashton,

SpaceX has investors. Presumably they are smart enough to know that Musk isn't entirely in it for the money. But I seriously doubt if they'd have invested if he hadn't promised them a certain return on their cash. Depending on what the ownership percentages are, they could even be in a position to out-vote him - if he annoyed them all at once?

Plus, I'm guessing here, Musk probably believes that the only way to a colony on Mars is to have a viable and self-sustaining space industry. Seeing as we can't realistically go straight from struggling with getting to low Earth orbit to regular Mars trips, that means some at least reasonably self-sufficient outposts in Earth orbit, or on the Moon or on asteroids. Mining / satellite repair / space manufacturing / other. Which means profits from more than just satellite launch. Government is currently happy with a bit of astronomy/science, satellites for communications, spying and environmental monitoring and a minimal amount of human spaceflight. So Musk needs to generate more demand for space industry, which he can partly do by making satellites cheaper. But it's going to take the lure of profits from some actually space-based industry to attract the kind of long-term investment into the space industry he wants to see.

So he also needs profits to fulfill his dream. Just ideally not the short-term small extra ones you might get by cutting corners on safety. But big, fat juicy ones you might get from space mining or manufacturing of clever stuff in low-gravity and with limitless solar energy - if that's even possible / worthwhile.