Proactive Investors - SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet arm is now breaking even in terms of cash flow, according to founder and chief executive Elon Musk, opening the door to a possible spin-off and initial public offer.
Musk said in 2021 that while SpaceX was not a suitable company for the public markets, an IPO for Starlink would be plausible "in a few years" when it was making “reasonable predictable” revenues and cash flows.
The satellite business, which has around 5,000 microsatellites in low-Earth orbit, has “achieved breakeven cash flow”, he said.
Thanks to numerous launches via parent SpaceX's rockets, Starlink has rapidly grown to become one of the world's largest satellite operators, with its satellites enabling broadband internet to be delivered to remote areas where wire and fibreoptic services are uneconomical for telecoms firms, and warzones such as providing support for Ukraine's army.
It is competing with rivals such as Viasat and OneWeb, which was recently bought by Eutelsat, and soon also Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) which last month launched its first Project Kuiper test satellites.
Musk said in a post on X/Twitter that Starlink's satellites now make up "a majority of all active satellites" and the company "will have launched a majority of all satellites cumulatively from Earth by next year".