🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Starlink drives most of SpaceX revenue

• Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet unit, has reshaped the company’s revenue mix and now drives its growth 1.
• In 2025, Starlink was estimated to bring in about US$10.6 billion, or roughly two-thirds of SpaceX revenue 2.
• The unit was also estimated to post a 54% EBITDA margin. EBITDA means earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, a common gauge of operating profit 2.
• Launch services completed 165 missions in 2025, yet brought in only about US$4 billion to US$5 billion a year 2.
• Those richer Starlink profits help pay for Starship, SpaceX’s next-generation rocket system for deep-space missions 2.

The IPO depends on Musk control and regulator approval

• Public investors would buy shares in a company where Elon Musk, CEO, is expected to keep nearly 80% of voting power through a dual-class structure that gives some shares extra votes 2.
• That leaves investors relying heavily on Musk, whose roles at several other companies add risk if his attention shifts 2.
• SpaceX also needs radio spectrum, the airwaves used to carry communications signals. It must secure that access from regulators such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the main US communications regulator 3.
• That helps explain SpaceX’s plan to spend more than US$17 billion to buy spectrum from EchoStar, a US satellite communications company. The move suggests its edge depends on regulatory approval as well as rocket technology 4.