SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
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Chamath Palihapitiya thinks Elon Musk could take SpaceX’s Starlink satellite-internet business public this year.
“He’s going to create breathing room for himself. This is the simplest and most obvious way for him to do it,” the so-called SPAC King said on a podcast.
A Starlink IPO this year would be much earlier than expected. In 2022, Musk said a public offering was at least three to four years away.
Elon Musk could take SpaceX’s Starlink satellite-internet business public this year, according to Chamath Palihapitiya.
In a recent episode of his All-In podcast, the so-called SPAC King said a Starlink IPO would be “an obvious outcome in 2023.”
“[Musk] talked about this on our pod, about the difficulties and the dangers of margin loans and all of that stuff,” Palihapitiya said, according to Bloomberg. “He’s going to create breathing room for himself. This is the simplest and most obvious way for him to do it. It’ll give him a ton of more dry powder.”
A Starlink IPO this year would be much earlier than expected. In 2022, Musk discussed the possibility of taking Starlink public during an all hands meeting for parent company SpaceX, and CNBC reported that he suggested a Starlink IPO was three to four years down the line.
Palihapitiya didn’t provide any specific details that would explain why or when Musk could offer a Starlink IPO, and he isn’t especially close to Musk to be privy to such a plan.
But he was involved in taking Virgin Galactic public and invested in space startup Relativity, while his podcast cohosts Jason Calacanis and David Sacks were involved in Musk’s Twitter takeover, Bloomberg said.
Palihapitiya is known for taking startup firms public through special purpose acquisition companies, also known as blank check companies, that serve as an alternative to a traditional initial public offering. SPACs were an investor favorite for a large part of 2020 but have since floundered as markets continue to tumble on growing recession fears.
Starlink, which provides internet services via thousands of satellites, gained more prominence last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
SpaceX provided Kyiv with Starlink access to help the military coordinate its defenses against Russia while also providing the civilian population with continued internet service.
Musk raised doubts about the future of Starlink’s contributions to Ukraine’s defense effort when the company said in October it could no longer afford to continue donating access and wanted the Pentagon to pay for the service.
But he has since backtracked, while Kyiv said in November that it will seek assistance from allies to pay for Starlink service.