SpaceX’s Starlink has “achieved breakeven money movement,” CEO Elon Musk mentioned Thursday, a milestone achievement for the rocket firm’s four-year-old satellite tv for pc web enterprise unit.
He introduced the information in a submit on X, the social media platform that he additionally owns. He added that Starlink “can be now a majority of all lively satellites and could have launched a majority of all satellites cumulatively from Earth by subsequent yr.”
Excited to announce that @SpaceX @Starlink has achieved breakeven money movement! Wonderful work by an incredible workforce.
Starlink can be now a majority of all lively satellites and could have launched a a majority of all satellites cumulatively from Earth by subsequent yr.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 2, 2023
It’s unclear whether or not the breakeven milestone is for the quarter or a selected time frame. Regardless, the achievement leaves open the query of whether or not SpaceX could also be nearing taking Starlink public by way of IPO – a transfer that Musk as soon as mentioned the corporate would execute as soon as the money movement turned predictable.
SpaceX president and chief working officer Gwynne Shotwell gave a touch that the economics have been turning into extra predictable earlier this yr, when she mentioned that Starlink had already achieved a cashflow constructive quarter in 2022.
Starlink’s mega-constellation at present sits at round 5,000 satellites, all of those launched by SpaceX rockets. That vertical integration has been key to the corporate increasing the Starlink community at such aggressive charges – SpaceX launched the primary operational Starlink birds in 2019 – and with the ability to develop at a tempo that far outstrips opponents.
Since then, the community has grown to round two million subscribers and spans verticals from client to maritime and aviation. Extra lately, Starlink made the information for its position in worldwide battle – together with the conflict in Ukraine and extra lately the conflict between Israel and Hamas. SpaceX lately established a defense-focused model of Starlink referred to as Starshield, an indication of the Pentagon’s curiosity in procuring satellite tv for pc web capabilities.
SpaceX is valued at round $150 million. The firm posted revenues final yr of $1.4 billion, the Wall Road Journal reported in September.