10 ms·
Starlink achieves cash-flow breakeven, says SpaceX CEO Musk
- yieldcrv 3y ago> In 2021, Musk said SpaceX would spin off and take Starlink public once its cash flow was reasonably predictable. As long as authoritarian governments predictably shut off all internet to their extremely ironic ghettos
- smt88 3y agoWhich authoritarian governments is Starlink circumventing?
- inemesitaffia 3y agoIran. There's ITU complaints and everything. Starlink seems to work in almost every country in Africa regardless of official availability with arrests in Senegal and extralegal action in South Africa and Zimbabwe, Vanuatu Ascension Island, St Helena
- benzible 3y agopreviously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38114798 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38114798
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- GuB-42 3y agoI don't trust Elon Musk words, at all. It doesn't mean I think it is wrong, but that it can be right or wrong, and material evidence may point to either direction, but what Elon Musk says is random noise to me. At least when he is talking about his business. He is like a professional poker player, you never know when he is bluffing. In the case of Starlink, on what grounds does it "breakeven"? It is a department of a private company, there is no way to know. In particular, Starlink is entirely dependent on SpaceX launches. How much does Starlink pays SpaceX for its launches? It is a completely arbitrary value. In reality, the money doesn't leave the company. For what I know, it may just be a pumping scheme for a future IPO, with the goal of eventually funneling investor money from a public Starlink to a private SpaceX. Or maybe not, Elon Musk is way smarter than me when it comes to business, that's why he is a billionaire and I am not, I can't predict his moves, but I know enough not to trust him.
- mixdup 3y ago>In the case of Starlink, on what grounds does it "breakeven"? It is a department of a private company, there is no way to know. In particular, Starlink is entirely dependent on SpaceX launches. How much does Starlink pays SpaceX for its launches? It is a completely arbitrary value. In reality, the money doesn't leave the company. Well, this is solved by him using cash flow instead of profitability, although I agree everything that elong says should be served with a massive grain of salt
- hbarka 3y agoBrings to mind Solar City [1] and then Solar Roof Tile [2] [1] https://apnews.com/article/ca-state-wire-technology-lawsuits-delaware-elon-musk-c4b5f0d821f7dff3efeea7d51ac3c09d https://apnews.com/article/ca-state-wire-technology-lawsuits... [2] https://mansionengineer.com/2018/08/10/elon-musk-tesla-and-the-solar-roof-tile-fraud/ https://mansionengineer.com/2018/08/10/elon-musk-tesla-and-t...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- twoquestions 3y agoHard agreement with all of this. As much as I'd really love Starlink to do well, Musk has negative reliability.
- signatoremo 3y agoWould this give you more information? https://archive.ph/HRuyf https://archive.ph/HRuyf Basically Starlink revenue is projected to exceed launch revenue next year to become SpaceX’s largest revenue source
- Zetobal 3y agoI am really curious how much Musk extracted from American taxpayers. Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink everything is or was substituted by tax money. Without the Ukraine war and all the terminals and monthly payments from different governments Starlink would have no chance to break even so early.
- tekla 3y agoHow dare a company bid and compete for Govt grants and contracts?
- cbcivyxt 3y ago[dead]
- cft 3y agoProbably one of the best uses of taxpayers money. Better than the wars. By the way, Fairchild Semiconductor, the first chip company, the predecessor of Intel was also supported by taxpayers money, because its largest orders came from the Apollo program and the military.
- gruez 3y agoAlthough not explicitly stated, there seems to be an underlying implication that "[extracting] money from American taxpayers" is somehow illegitimate or dishonorable. What's wrong with getting money from the government, as long as the goods/services were delivered as promised and there was no corruption involved? The government wanted to promote electric vehicles, and teslas are legitimately good cars. The government needed launch vehicles, and spacex was the best option. The government wanted to provide satellite internet to the Ukrainian military, and starlink was the best service.
- marcusverus 3y agoThe idea that SpaceX (which actively fought against cost-plus accounting in favor of fixed-cost contracts and has greatly reduced the cost of launch services) is ‘extracting money from American taxpayers’ is laughable. SpaceX is the death knell of the old space industry, whose primary function was delivering recycled tech late and over budget. In the fullness of time it will save the government many tens of billions of dollars—-FAR more than it ekes out in profit from government business. Transferring a single launch from SLS to Starship, for example, could save the US taxpayer a billion dollars while giving SpaceX no more than 5% of that amount in profit.
- trollerator23 3y ago[flagged]
- notfish 3y ago1.5 million customers according to google, ~$100 per month per customer is like 1.8 billion cashflow in per year, seems possible to me.
- panick21_ 3y agoThey are closer to 2 million now. And many costumers, like planes, ships, RV and so on actually pay considerably more. Plus, while they were selling terminals at a loss, they are close to even now and some of the more fancy terminals are likely making some money. So its really not that crazy.
- trollerator23 3y agoWell. Maybe. It's possible. Certainly not "bullshit, not a chance", but I still doubt those satellites and launches have paid for themselves already.
- panick21_ 3y ago> but I still doubt those satellites and launches have paid for themselves already That's not what cashflow positives means.
- mensetmanusman 3y agoThere are many timelines without spacex where something like starlink isn’t achieved for many more decades, possibly centuries. Very few thought this was possible.
- mattgibson 3y agoGiven it's already been done before by Iridium [0], it's hard to see how it would take centuries for a more efficient version of the same thing to emerge if Spacex was not around. Especially given the general technology progress since Iridium initially launched. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_satellite_constellation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_satellite_constellatio...
- mensetmanusman 3y agoStarlink is comparable to Iridium if you are discussing ‘internet from the sky’ but the details are more complex.
- survirtual 3y agoThey are not comparable. Starlink offers highspeed (actually, not marketing gibberish), low latency internet around the world at a price people can actually afford and without unreasonable datacaps. This is possible because they are mass producing phased array antennas, something that was out of reach of common affordability before Starlink. Starlink is comparable to Iridium like dial-up internet is comparable to fiber. Just go to Iridium's website and try to figure out what they actually sell to anyone who doesn't have elite pockets.
- Ancalagon 3y agonit: technically the comparison should have been 'Iridium is comparable to Starlink like dial-up is comparable to fiber' You align the element order to what is actually being compared. Just pointing that out for any other non-native English speakers.
- 3y ago
- anonzzzies 3y agoI hope so. As much as I don't really care for that man, Starlink has been an absolute gamechanger. It's much faster & more stable than anything including 3/4/5g in my region. It hasn't gone down even once on my roof even in really bad weather. Allows me to live in nature comfortably.