In a 2013 email, Elon Musk explained why SpaceX should remain private until certain technological milestones were reached:
"Publicly traded stocks, especially those involving significant technological changes, experience extreme volatility, stemming from both internal operations and other factors unrelated to the economy. This distracts people from focusing on creating excellent products."
SpaceX was valued at $5 billion in 2013, and he believed that if the development and production of the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket went smoothly, the company's value could reach $15 billion.
Meanwhile, the company would continue to provide employees with secondary market trading opportunities to help them access liquidity. Here is his advice on whether to sell stock:
▫️ “Here is my advice on selling SpaceX stock or options. No complicated analysis is needed, because the rule of thumb is simple. If you believe SpaceX will outperform the average public company, then our stock price will continue to rise at a rate higher than the stock market, which is the second-highest long-term investment return option. Therefore, you should only sell the shares that will improve your standard of living in the short to medium term. In fact, even if you are convinced that the stock will appreciate, I would still recommend that you sell a portion, because life is short, and having more cash can increase enjoyment and reduce family stress (provided you don't correspondingly increase your daily personal expenses).” ▫️
The concept for Starlink was proposed in 2015. The first satellite constellation was launched in 2019.
Starlink expects sales to exceed $20 billion next year, and stable revenue (coupled with its world-leading launch business) will lay the foundation for its IPO in 2026, at which time the company is expected to raise $30 billion at a valuation of $1.5 trillion.
This will *absolutely* reduce the volatility of the company as a publicly traded company, enabling it to better capitalize on the next major technological shift (such as artificial intelligence data centers).