Image: Starlink
Elon Musk is pushing back on recent reports that SpaceX is gearing up for a massive new funding round at an $800 billion valuation. After speculation surfaced this week about a potential share sale at a record valuation, Musk took to X on Saturday to clarify the situation — and in the process revealed that commercial Starlink has become SpaceX’s main money maker.
“There has been a lot of press claiming SpaceX is raising money at $800B, which is not accurate,” Musk wrote. He added that the company has been “cash flow positive for many years” and only conducts “periodic stock buybacks twice a year to provide liquidity for employees and investors.”
Musk said SpaceX’s valuation growth largely hinges on Starship progress, Starlink expansion, and securing global direct-to-cell spectrum — the latter of which “greatly increases our addressable market.” He also teased one other, “arguably most significant” value driver that he chose to leave a mystery.
But the most notable disclosure came when Musk addressed long-running claims that SpaceX is “subsidized” by NASA. “Some people have claimed that SpaceX gets ‘subsidized’ by NASA. This is absolutely false,” he said, stressing that SpaceX won its NASA contracts because it offered “the best product at the lowest price.” He added, “While I have great fondness for NASA, they will constitute less than 5% of our revenue next year. Commercial Starlink is by far our largest contributor to revenue.”
Starlink recently surpassed eight million users across more than 150 countries and continues to rake in major in-flight Wi-Fi deals, most recently with South Korea’s flag carrier and its sister airlines. SpaceX also recently introduced its cheapest Starlink plan yet, at just $40 per month, and has begun opening its first physical Starlink retail stores in the U.S.
What’s more, SpaceX is preparing to begin testing satellite mobile service on its newly acquired wireless spectrum next year, following its $17 billion EchoStar deal, marking another large potential revenue stream.
With rumblings of a possible SpaceX IPO sometime in 2026, Musk’s clarification signals that Starlink — not government contracts — is now the economic backbone of the company.
