Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Starlink business ‘achieved breakeven cash flow’

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced Thursday that the company’s Starlink satellite internet business “achieved breakeven cash flow.”

“Excellent work by a great team,” Musk said in a post on his social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter.

Musk did not specify whether that milestone was hit on an operating basis or for a specified time period.

Earlier this year, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said Starlink “had a cash flow positive quarter” in 2022, and the overall SpaceX company reportedly turned a profit in the first quarter of 2023.

SpaceX’s valuation has soared to about $150 billion, with Starlink seen as a key economic driver of the company’s goals. Two years ago, Musk emphasized that making Starlink “financially viable” required crossing “through a deep chasm of negative cash flow.”

Musk has discussed spinning off Starlink to take it public through an initial public offering once the business was “in a smooth sailing situation.” But timing of a Starlink IPO remains uncertain. Last year, Musk told employees that taking the business public wasn’t likely until 2025 or later.

“Being public is definitely an invitation to pain,” Musk told SpaceX employees in 2022. “And the stock price is just distracting.”

Starlink is the global communications network that Musk’s company has been building, with more than 5,000 satellites launched and counting.

It began offering Starlink service about three years ago, initially targeting the consumer market. Most recently, SpaceX has said Starlink has upward of two million subscribers, having expanded into other markets — including national security, enterprise, mobility, maritime and aviation — and disrupted the existing satellite communications sector.

Last month, SpaceX announced the opening of a new satellite antenna manufacturing facility in Bastrop, Texas, which is near Austin.

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