SpaceX wants $1.7 billion more, bringing its valuation to roughly $127 billion
At a price of $70 per share.
The fates of SpaceX and Twitter may be inextricably linked.
Private space company SpaceX is looking to raise up to $1.725 billion at a price of $70 per share, according to a widely-shared company email that was picked up by CNBC.
The massive funding round would bring the company’s new valuation to approximately $127 billion, and could help SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to buy Twitter.
Could SpaceX help fund Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter acquisition?
The news comes shortly after SpaceX increased the price of its satellite internet service, Starlink, citing inflation. Musk also recently stated the company was at risk of bankruptcy in the future if it didn’t speed up its production of Raptor 2 engines.
SpaceX split its stock price 10-for-1 in February and it is also carrying out a secondary sale for company insiders and shareholders of up to $750 million. The company is currently the world’s third largest private company after Shanghai-based TikTok owner ByteDance and Hangzhou-based payment platform firm Ant Group.
The New York Post was the first to announce last week that SpaceX aimed to raise funds, fueling speculation that it might be part of Musk’s plans to acquire social media platform Twitter for $44 billion. The Post quoted anonymous insider sources saying there had been “tepid demand” so far.
Musk owned 44 percent of the shares of SpaceX as of last year, and there has been no official confirmation that he is trying to sell any of his shares in the company’s latest secondary sale. The SpaceX CEO is facing sexual harassment allegations reportedly brought forward by a former SpaceX jet flight attendant, though he has denied the claims saying they are “utterly untrue”. The latest reports suggest the flight attendant reached a $250,000 severance agreement with SpaceX in 2018.
New funds will boost SpaceX’s Starship program
SpaceX has raised billions for its fully reusable Starship launch vehicle project and its satellite internet network, Starlink, in recent years. Musk recently announced that profits from the internet service will go towards the construction of Starship, which will launch to the Moon around 2025 and may also make it to Mars in the 2030s.
Starlink has received great public attention in recent weeks for its role in the Ukraine conflict. Near the start of the conflict, Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked Musk to provide free Starlink internet coverage in the country. SpaceX then donated more than 3,000 Starlink terminals as well as equipment to run the service off-grid, enabling up to 150,000 users to connect daily. The company has also faced criticism from the astronomy community, however, and NASA has even warned the massive satellite network could negatively impact its ability to detect a dangerous asteroid collision.
SHOW COMMENT ()
