Elon Musk said on Friday that SpaceX cannot continue to fund Ukraine’s Starlink terminals “indefinitely” due to cost considerations. But Musk, who is also the CEO of electric car company Tesla, said on Saturday that SpaceX will continue to fund the Ukrainian government “for free” even though Starlink is “still in the red.” said.
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Elon Musk could spin off Starlink from SpaceX and conduct an IPO by 2025, technology analyst firm CCS Insight said in a report.
Starlink uses satellites to provide users with broadband internet and is part of Musk’s space exploration company.
CCS Insight releases an annual report on forecasts across the technology sector. In this year’s edition, published Tuesday, the analyst firm noted that Starlink’s “satellites are increasing their capacity to meet growing demand for their services as revenues become more predictable and as it gains more and more users.” It will be spun off to raise capital to expand Constellation.” .
“I think it makes perfect sense,” Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight, told CNBC in an interview. “Starlink needs to invest heavily.”
Wood said an initial public offering (IPO) would help drive SpaceX investment, drive international expansion, and “make Starlink a go-to player in satellite broadband.”
For years, SpaceX executives have been talking about an IPO. Musk said SpaceX will go public with Starlink in 2021 when earnings become more predictable.
Earlier this year, Musk told employees that a Starlink IPO was unlikely after 2025, CNBC reported, citing the billionaire’s comments at an all-hands meeting of SpaceX employees.
Musk had previously targeted a product delivery as early as this year, according to an email to SpaceX employees obtained by CNBC. “In about three years or so, it probably makes sense for him to go public with Starlink,” Musk said in his May 2019 email.
Starlink has recently been in the limelight due to its role in the Russian-Ukrainian war. SpaceX donated Starlink internet terminals to Ukraine to keep the country’s military online during the war with Russia, even as the communications infrastructure was destroyed.
However, Musk said on Friday that SpaceX cannot continue to fund Ukraine’s Starlink terminals “indefinitely” due to cost considerations.But Mr. Musk, who is also the CEO of an electric car company, Teslasaid on Saturday that SpaceX will continue to fund the Ukrainian government “for free” even though Starlink is “still losing money.”
— CNBC’s Michael Sheetz contributed to this report.