SpaceX Starlink IPO could still be ‘three to four years’ out

SpaceX has been out of reach from the public pool of investors for a long time, and it looks like it will stay that way for now. The rumored SpaceX Starlink IPO is not on the cards for a few more years per Elon Musk.

Musks says SpaceX Starlink IPO still ‘three to four years away’

According to CNBC, SpaceX’s founder and CEO Elon Musk said that an IPO for Starlink is still in the plans but doesn’t know when it will happen. During the meeting, Musk stated, “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.”

In 2019, Musk stated a Starlink IPO, which would be spun off from SpaceX, could come as soon as this year, but he noted that the decision was delayed a few more years in 2021. So once again, we have word that investors will have to wait to get a piece of SpaceX’s shares.

The statements Musk made were at an all-hands meeting with employees. Musk shared the slide deck used in the meeting, showing some recent SpaceX accomplishments, milestones, and future plans. It noted that Starlink has over 500,000 subscribers and that the company has delivered 15,000 Starlink terminals to Ukraine.

Starlink isn’t ready just yet to go public

While many of us are excited and optimistic about Starlink, it isn’t out of the woods just yet. Musk stated in an email obtained by Space Explored that Starlink V2 satellites are needed to make the product commercially viable, and launching these satellites is dependent on Starship. So as long as Starship is grounded for development and testing, Starlink is not in a solid financial position.

In the all-hands meeting, CNBC reports that Musk stated Starlink needs to be “in a smooth sailing situation” with “good predictability” before an IPO would be completed.

SpaceX’s last reported valuation is at $127 billion with a share price of $56. These are private shares, meaning you can’t go and purchase them on the open market. A Starlink IPO would open part of the company to public investment and would probably turn into the defacto SpaceX stock, going up and down based on the company’s success. It would also force SpaceX to open up and share more financial information with its shareholders, giving insight into before unseen stats.

Starlink continues to be a growing success. In four years, Starlink began as two test satellites and now is a constellation number in the thousands. Starlink’s success for SpaceX is expected, even with the delayed IPO timeline, as access to a high-speed internet connection in remote locations has been shown to be a great need worldwide.