3 Things to Know About Starlink Before the Potential 2026 SpaceX IPO

Key Points

SpaceX, the company behind Starlink, is gearing up for an initial public offering (IPO). According to reports, CEO Elon Musk could be angling to have the company go public in June. Reports also suggest that Musk could be looking to raise funds through initial public stock sales at a price that would value the company at more than $1.75 trillion. Read on for a look at three things you should know about Starlink.

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1. Starlink is growing at a rapid pace

Starlink allows users to easily access satellite internet in areas that might not otherwise offer high-speed services. Demand for the technology has been robust, and the service is adding subscribers at an impressive rate.

Starlink had roughly 4.6 million subscribers at the end of 2024. By 2025’s close, the service had more than 9 million subscribers. By February 2026, Starlink’s subscriber count had reportedly reached more than 10 million. The service has more than 2 million subscribers in the U.S., but it’s available in more than 155 markets — and it’s likely that Starlink’s subscriber count will continue to scale rapidly.

2. Starlink isn’t SpaceX’s only space business

While Starlink is the part of SpaceX’s business that consumers are most likely to be familiar with, the company also provides rocket-launch services that allow third parties to get satellites and other payloads into orbit. While competitors including Rocket Lab are growing rapidly, SpaceX remains the clear-cut leader in commercial third-party launch services.

The scale of SpaceX’s launch business could allow Starlink to post margins that surpass competitors including AST SpaceMobile and overall margin strength that helps support robust earnings growth. While its key satellite-internet competitors need to pay third parties for rocket-launching services in order to get their tech into orbit, SpaceX can do it all in house and also enjoys economies-of-scale benefits thanks to being the largest launch company.

3. Some investors think SpaceX and its Starlink could be merged with Tesla

In February, Musk confirmed that SpaceX had been merged with xAI — the unit that houses the X social media platform and the Grok artificial intelligence platform. Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives, one of the most high-profile Tesla bulls, has said that there is a growing chance that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) could be merged with the now-merged SpaceX and xAI.

If a merger were to occur, it would bring Musk’s most financially powerful businesses together under one corporate structure — and one stock. With Tesla betting big on robotaxi services and its Optimus humanoid robots, Starlink’s satellite internet services could play an important role in facilitating those growth initiatives over the long term.

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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AST SpaceMobile, Rocket Lab, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.