With Musk's backing, SpaceX is "rich": valuation may exceed $250 billion, the second-in-command urges regulators to "hurry up," we have nearly 5 million customers

Having someone in the government makes things easier. With the backing of CEO Elon Musk, who has made a big bet on Trump’s victory, SpaceX has recently shown a lot of "wealth," with its valuation reaching a new high for private companies in the U.S. The company's second-in-command is urging U.S. regulators to speed up approvals while showcasing their achievements: the Starship, which performed the "chopsticks holding a rocket" demonstration last month, is set to begin test flights again next week, and Starlink internet service is nearing 5 million customers, potentially allowing phones to connect directly to satellites next month.

SpaceX's Internal Stock Sale in December Could Reach a Valuation of $255 Billion, Up Over 20% in Six Months

According to a report by the Financial Times on Friday, SpaceX is preparing to launch a buyback offer in December, planning to sell internal shares at a price of $135 per share, which would push the company's valuation over $250 billion, higher than the nearly $210 billion valuation during the internal stock sale in June of this year. This is equivalent to,

Previously, SpaceX had set a record for the highest valuation of a private company in the U.S. at $210 billion.

Coincidentally, sources told the Financial Times that Musk's AI startup xAI recently completed a new round of financing worth $5 billion, with the company's valuation doubling to $45 billion compared to the last round of financing in May of this year.

Subsequently, Bloomberg reported that SpaceX is in preliminary discussions to sell shares to insiders, and the company's valuation could therefore reach approximately $255 billion. If this figure is accurate, it would mean that in just six months since June, SpaceX's valuation would have increased by over 20%.

SpaceX's Second-in-Command: Technology is Easy, People are Hard, Regulators are the Hardest

On the same day, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's second-in-command, president, and COO, criticized U.S. regulators at the annual investor and client conference held by Baron Capital, stating that rocket launch approvals need to keep pace with the company's innovations. She said:

“Technology is easy, physics is also easy, people are hard, and regulators are the hardest.”

“All we ask for is to regulate the industry to make it safe, correct, and fair. But we must speed up. (Much faster than now).”

Shotwell's remarks are a public pressure from SpaceX on the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as SpaceX has been seeking to accelerate the approval process for commercial space operations. Musk called for the resignation of the FAA head in September, claiming that the paperwork for government approval to launch takes longer than the actual time to build a rocket.

Starship's Sixth Test Flight as Early as Next Tuesday, 400 Flights in Four Years Not Unexpected

In her speech, Shotwell discussed the heavy-lift rocket "Starship," stating that SpaceX is steadily advancing the development of Starship. She said that Starship is a replacement for Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft, and that SpaceX will not be shutting down Falcon and Dragon, which will "still fly for another six to eight years," but ultimately, people will want to ride Starship: it is larger, more comfortable, and cheaper Last month, the Starship successfully recovered the rocket's booster on its fifth test flight attempt. Shotwell stated that SpaceX plans to conduct the sixth flight test of the Starship as early as next Tuesday, aiming to further enhance the rocket's performance through additional demonstrations during the flight mission. SpaceX hopes to make the Starship's systems fully reusable, while currently only the booster and nose cone of the Falcon rocket are reusable.

Shotwell said:

"We just completed 400 Falcon rocket launches, and if we complete 400 Starship launches in the next four years, I wouldn't be surprised."

Starlink to Launch Direct Mobile Connection to Satellites Around December, Industry Still Has Enough Competitive Space

Shotwell also revealed at the Baron Capital conference that SpaceX's Starlink business launches about 60 satellites per week on average, with approximately 7,000 satellites currently in orbit, and plans to start offering "direct mobile connection" services around next month. The Starlink satellite internet network currently serves nearly 5 million customers, but the satellite broadband market is "huge."

Ron Baron, founder of Baron Capital and billionaire investor, stated that his company holds over $2 billion in SpaceX stock, noting that about 30% of the global population of 8.08 billion cannot access broadband. Shotwell told Baron, "SpaceX will serve all of them," but "there will be competition—I believe there is enough space in this industry, enough competitive space."

Shotwell urged competitors to catch up, stating that competition is beneficial for SpaceX. She said:

"I hope others can catch up, right? Competition is good for the industry... It keeps us on our toes and makes us very focused."

"It will be difficult to catch up, but I certainly hope people try."

Shotwell's remarks echo the sentiments of "regretful Alibaba's Jack Ma" and "ordinary family’s Pony Ma." After all, in the Western world, SpaceX's business can be said to be far ahead. In the United States, SpaceX's reusable Falcon rockets have launched over 100 times this year, while the second-ranked Rocket Lab has only launched rockets into orbit 12 times this year. In Europe, the EU faces significant challenges in trying to catch up.

This month, the Chinese Defense Newspaper reported, citing U.S. media, that the EU aims to create a European version of Starlink. The European Commission and the "SpaceRISE" European Space Alliance will soon sign a 12-year contract for the development, deployment, and operation of the IRIS2 satellite system.

The report mentioned that analysts believe a major challenge facing the EU's project is technological lag. SpaceX has the capability to launch over 100 satellites at once and has already launched more than 6,000 Starlink satellites. In contrast, the EU's IRIS2 satellite system consists of only about 290 satellites and will take two years to complete deployment. Airbus Group and Thales Alenia Space have deemed the project "technologically immature," withdrawing from the leadership of the "SpaceRISE" European Space Alliance and participating in the project only as subcontractors