Musk: Starlink to go public once operational
Capitalism in space: According to a tweet by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, once the Starlink internet satellite constellation is operational and has a “reasonable well” cash flow it will issue and IPO and become a publicly traded stock.
“SpaceX needs to pass through a deep chasm of negative cash flow over the next year or so to make Starlink financially viable,” Musk wrote in another tweet. “Every new satellite constellation in history has gone bankrupt. We hope to be the first that does not.”
Based on the company’s pace of launching satellites and rolling out service, this moment could occur as early as late this year. More likely it will occur in mid-22.
I would also expect that stock to quickly rise in value, and based on the history of all of Musk’s companies, will continue to rise thereafter. Expect also that a significant portion of the investment capital that Starlink will raise will be used to finance the development of Starship and Super Heavy, because Starlink will need that larger rocket to maintain its satellite constellation.
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Capitalism in space: According to a tweet by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, once the Starlink internet satellite constellation is operational and has a “reasonable well” cash flow it will issue and IPO and become a publicly traded stock.
“SpaceX needs to pass through a deep chasm of negative cash flow over the next year or so to make Starlink financially viable,” Musk wrote in another tweet. “Every new satellite constellation in history has gone bankrupt. We hope to be the first that does not.”
Based on the company’s pace of launching satellites and rolling out service, this moment could occur as early as late this year. More likely it will occur in mid-22.
I would also expect that stock to quickly rise in value, and based on the history of all of Musk’s companies, will continue to rise thereafter. Expect also that a significant portion of the investment capital that Starlink will raise will be used to finance the development of Starship and Super Heavy, because Starlink will need that larger rocket to maintain its satellite constellation.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Starlink therefore is Penthouse to SpaceX’s OMNI. Starlog was propped up by wrestling mags-and car manual publishers off-set costs with space-scifi titles. When you go public like Boeing-innovation dies. Here at least, you have a finished product though. Musk should still watch things closely. He offers Parler succor, Congress or a SJW from within can ruin things. Unlike Trump, he has given Twitter a rest. Keep that head down Elon.
A great place for my Covid checks to go.
Business analysts criticize Tesla for not having any valuable patents, but rely on the same suppliers of battery technology and such that are used also by much larger car manufacturers (larger in product volume, not any more in stock market capitalization). The only possible rational reason for Tesla nine folding(!) its stock price last year, from already highly over-valued levels according to traditional analysts, would be Elon Musk personally and the expectations on his successful entrepreneurship and market PR. I think he could buy a chunk of stocks in almost any company and take a seat at their board of directors, to make its stock price multiply, like King Midas turning everything he touches into gold. But I doubt that many board of directors personally would like to see that happen.
The libertarian visionary Elon Musk is more fantastic than any fictional character of the genre I know of, like Hank Rearden and John Galt in Atlas Shrugged. It seems almost too fantastic as it is with a new metal alloy, a brilliant engine design and a discovered secret valley. And Dagny Taggart’s orderly operative retreats to keep a core of railroad traffic running in a failing socialist society. But that all fades compared to Elon Musk becoming the world’s richest man by completely taking over entrenched old big industries like cars and spaceflight and colonizing Mars (without any fundamental new technology inventions, just fantastic entrepreneurship and hypes that last for decades). To the amazement of all established expertise, even Robert Zubrin seems to have a hard time accepting what is happening and that he has become number two in Mars optimism.
It is hardly surprising that Musk wants to take Starlink public once it is operational. He had always intended for it to fund Starship and other innovations, and going public will raise a huge amount of immediate money that can be used for these purposes. If SpaceX retains a controlling share of the company then Starlink can remain innovative while providing continuing income for use in other innovative projects as SpaceX.
I’ll stick this in here….
The Joe Rogan Experience
#1609 w/ Elon Musk
2-11-21
https://youtu.be/SJefd-ByybM
3:25:25
Finished watching Rogan & Musk– highly recommend Musk in long-form. [Twice as long as his previous appearance with Rogan, which garnered something like 40 million views to date.]
(Joe however, really reveals his ignorance at times, but he tries, and Musk does a good job explaining…)
Actually by taking Starlink public he makes it a high paying customer of Space X and the Satellite construction company.
Whatever he pays for satellites and launches is a business expense thus a tax write off for Starlink and a profitable sale to the other companies.
He can not just take monies from a publicly traded company and hand it over to a private company.
pzatchok: Ah, but if Starlink is funded entirely from stock investments, the private investment capital raised by SpaceX and now being used to develop both Starlink and Starship can be switched entirely to Starship. The money won’t get transferred across from Starlink to SpaceX-for-Starship, but it will free up capital at SpaceX for Starship alone.
Furthermore, as a publicly traded company Starlink will have to buy its launches from SpaceX rather than being flown in-house. I am sure there is an on-the-books in-house transaction to pay for the flights now, but when Starlink is a separate company it will have to pay like anyone else. That’s more real cash that SpaceX can funnel to Starship’s development.
pzatchok,
You are forgetting that Starlink can pay dividends to its owners, and I noted that if SpaceX retains a share then it can receive dividends. These dividend monies become SpaceX possessions and can be spent on Starship or any other development project. In addition, SpaceX could sell more of its share of Starlink as a source of revenue.
Most likely SpaceX already treats Starlink as a launch customer. Most likely the company keeps separate “books” for each program, and the Starlink project most likely pays the Falcon project for each launch. Separating each program helps track costs, revenues, and profits of each. Doing it any other way complicates any public offering, causing confusion for investors attempting to figure out the true costs of Starlink’s business operations.