WASHINGTON — While the Starlink constellation is becoming a moneymaker for SpaceX, the company’s president believes that the Starship launch system will have a bigger long-term impact.
In an on-stage interview at the 31st Annual Baron Investment Conference Nov. 15, Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer at SpaceX, said that Starship will “take us over the top” to become one of the most valuable companies in the world.
SpaceX is currently valued at $210 billion based on the pricing of recent tender offers of shares in secondary markets, although the Financial Times reported Nov. 15 that an upcoming tender offer at a higher share price would boost that valuation to more than $250 billion. The most valuable publicly traded company, chipmaker Nvidia, has a market capitalization of more than $3.4 trillion as of Nov. 15.
SpaceX’s current valuation is largely driven by Starlink, which now has more than four million subscribers. “We’re going to make some money on Starlink this year,” she said. “We’ve had quarters of making money on Starlink in the past.”
She declined to go into specifics about the finances of Starlink when asked. A report earlier this year by Quilty Analytics projected that Starlink would generate $6.6 billion in revenue for SpaceX in 2024 and $600 million in free cash flow even after accounting for the costs to build and launch the satellites.
“The company is incredibly valuable, I think, right now because of Starlink,” she said. “Starlink will add a zero, probably, at least as we continue to grow the Starlink system.”
That growth comes in many different markets, from residential broadband services to maritime and aviation connectivity. SpaceX will begin offering direct-to-device services “within the next month or so,” she said, with an initial version for “very light data” and text messaging.
However, she argued that Starship will be even more valuable to SpaceX in the long run….
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