Starlink breaks even – Musk promised to separate the business from SpaceX when it “stops losing money”
Last year, the SpaceX CEO discussed the spin-off of Starlink, and in 2020, he announced an IPO of the satellite Internet business when “revenue growth becomes smooth and predictable.”
According to Elon Musk, Starlink has now reached “breakeven cash flow.”
“Great work by a great team. Starlink now owns the majority of all active satellites and will launch the majority of all satellites from Earth by next year,” he added.
In 2021, Musk said that SpaceX would spin off and take Starlink public when the satellite Internet business “stops losing money.”
Since 2019, Starlink has expanded its network in Earth orbit to approximately 5,000 satellites, positioning itself as the largest satellite operator in the world and a competitor to satellite internet companies such as Viasat and the recently acquired Eutelsat OneWeb.
In 2015, at a presentation for investors, SpaceX predicted that the satellite Internet service would generate $12 billion in revenue and $7 billion in operating profit in 2022. SpaceX also predicted that the division would have 20 million subscribers by the end of 2022. Instead, by the end of the year, Starlink had more than 1 million active subscribers, and in May 2023, it had about 1.5 million. According to CNBC, SpaceX CEO Jonathan Hofeller said that Starlink has now “significantly exceeded” this mark.
Since last year, Starlink has also been in the spotlight because it provides Ukraine with satellite communications, which is important in the context of countering Russian military aggression. At the same time, Musk has repeatedly stated that his technology should be used only for peaceful purposes, and even ignored Ukraine’s request to activate the Internet near Crimea, thus thwarting a potential attack on the Russian fleet.
Last month, Musk said that Starlink would maintain communications links in Gaza with “internationally recognized aid organizations” after the shutdown of telephony and internet isolated people in Gaza from the world and each other.
Musk has been trying to establish the Starlink business unit as an important source of revenue to fund SpaceX’s more capital-intensive projects, such as the next generation Starship, a giant reusable rocket that the company plans to launch to the moon over the next decade.
In September, the Wall Street Journal reported that last year, Starlink increased its revenue more than 6 times to $1.4 billion, but did not reach the goals set by Musk.
SpaceX is currently valued at about $150 billion and is one of the most valuable private companies in the world.
