SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Reflects On Starlink's Challenging Path To Profitability: 'Was Extremely Difficult To Build'

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Sunday reflected on the journey of its Starlink segment into profitability.

What Happened: “Starlink was *extremely* difficult to build,” Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Musk thanked the team at work behind the broadband satellite internet service and said, “Thanks to an epic team and many years of hard work, it has succeeded.”

Only last week, Musk announced that the Starlink business segment achieved breakeven cash flow.

Why It Matters: Musk announced his plans for a space internet initiative as long back as 2015. However, back then, SpaceX reportedly told in a presentation that its satellite division would be making $12 billion in revenue and $7 billion in operating profit by 2022. Though the segment has now achieved breakeven cash flow, it is way behind the predicted timeline.

After launching demo satellites in 2018, the company launched the first batch of operational Starlink satellites in 2019.

In September, SpaceX wrote on Starlink's official X handle that the service is now present in over 60 countries with over 2 million active customers. SpaceX has launched about 5000 Starlink satellites to orbit thus far.

SpaceX, recently valued at $150 billion, does not publicly reveal its finances like Musk’s public company Tesla. Hence, its financials and costs are under wraps and hard to come by, including of its segment Starlink.

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