Elon Musk hints at Starlink IPO

SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Wednesday night that it would be "at least a few years" before satellite broadband service Starlink would be publicly listed. 

In a thread attached to an infographic of orbital debris decay posted by United Launch Alliance President and CEO Tony Bruno, the billionaire responded to a Twitter user who asked him about future investment in Starlink. 

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"Any thoughts on Starlink IPO we would love to invest in the future. Any thoughts on first dibs for Tesla retail investors?" asked @TeslaGong.

"At least a few years before Starlink revenue is reasonably predictable," Musk replied. "Going public sooner than that would be very painful. Will do my best to give long-term Tesla shareholders preference."

In February, Musk tweeted that Starlink could go public once the aerospace company can "predict cash flow reasonably well."

"SpaceX needs to pass through a deep chasm of negative cash flow over the next year or so to make Starlink financially viable. Every new satellite constellation in history has gone bankrupt. We hope to be the first that does not," he added in a separate tweet. 

"Starlink is a staggeringly difficult technical & economic endeavor. However, if we don’t fail, the cost to end users will improve every year," Musk said.

Last year, Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, told attendees of a JPMorgan private investor event that Starlink was a prime candidate to go public. 

"Right now, we are a private company, but Starlink is the right kind of business that we can go ahead and take public," she said. "That particular piece is an element of the business that we are likely to spin out and go public."

To date, SpaceX has launched and deployed more than 1,700 Starlink spacecraft, according to Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.

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However, that tally includes prototypes and failed, inactive satellites.

In April, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted SpaceX regulatory approval to launch and operate some of its Starlink fleet at a lower earth orbit than planned. 

SpaceX endeavors to eventually deploy up to 12,000 satellites in total.

However, Starlink is still delivering initial beta service domestically and internationally, with plans to expand to near-global coverage this year.

Speaking at a Macquarie Group conference on Tuesday, Shotwell reportedly said the company was targeting September for global coverage.

"We've successfully deployed 1,800 or so satellites and once all those satellites reach their operational orbit, we will have continuous global coverage, so that should be like September timeframe," she said, according to Reuters. "But then we have regulatory work to go into every country and get approved to provide telecoms services."

"As we launch more satellites, install more ground stations and improve our networking software, data speed, latency and uptime will improve dramatically," the Starlink website says. 

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In a March FCC filing, SpaceX sought a "blanket license authorizing operation" of Starlink user terminals, looking to connect the service to moving vehicles, ships and aircraft.

Last month, Musk said that SpaceX had already received more than 500,000 preorders for its Starlink satellite internet service.