Elon Musk is in another public-private business conundrum. Starlink — SpaceX’s satellite internet service — won’t go public until 2025, despite investors’ enthusiasm about a potential initial public offering (IPO), one which was reportedly set to happen this year.
“I’m not sure exactly when that [IPO] is, but maybe it will be like — I don’t know, just guessing — three or four years from now,” Musk said at an all-hands meeting of the private company’s employees on June 2, according to an audio recording obtained by CNBC.
Musk said that the Starlink business needs to be “in a smooth sailing situation” with “good predictability,” according to CNBC, adding at that point, “I think spinning it off as a public company can make a lot of sense.”
CNBC reports that in a 2019 email, Musk had planned to take the company public “in about three years or so.”
During the meeting, Musk also told employees that they “should not think of things going public as, like, a sure path to riches,” according to CNBC. “The public markets are fickle” and “really pistol-whip you if you don’t meet expectations,” he said.
On June 5, Musk tweeted a deck from the SpaceX all-hands meeting, one which shows that Starlink has 500,000 users “and counting” in 32 countries. In addition, the deck notes that the company has delivered 15,000 Starlink units to Ukraine, and provides internet “by land, air & sea.” In April, Musk announced that Starlink would provide complimentary high-speed, low-latency broadband internet access to every guest onboard Hawaiian Airlines flights between the islands and the continental U.S, Asia and Oceania, as GOBankingRates previously reported.
The airline said it will equip its Airbus A330 and A321neo aircraft, as well as an incoming fleet of Boeing 787-9s, with Starlink’s satellite internet connectivity service, according to a press release.
Last month, Musk’s SpaceX was looking to raise a new round of $1.7 billion in funding, which would bring its valuation to $127 billion, as GOBankingRates previously reported.
SpaceX’s goal of $1.7 billion in new funds would bring the price to $70 a share — a 25% increase — according to a company-wide email obtained by CNBC.