SpaceX Is a Roaring Success. Could a Starlink IPO Rescue Elon Musk?

SpaceX is the most valuable space company in the world—and it might offer Elon Musk the key to unlocking his empire.

It’s hard to feel pity for the world’s second-richest person. Musk is estimated to be worth about $180 billion, the combined value of his stakes in Tesla (ticker: TSLA), SpaceX, Neuralink, the Boring Co., and Twitter, among other investments. The problem, though, is that all but Tesla are privately held, and therefore illiquid. When Musk needs money, his only option is to sell Tesla stock. That was the case from April to December 2022, when Musk was forced to sell some $23 billion in Tesla shares to keep Twitter afloat, one of the reasons the stock tumbled more than 50% during that period. What Musk really needs is another publicly traded company that would allow him to unlock some of his wealth—and take the pressure off Tesla.