SpaceX IPO Spurs Fans to Save $6,500 and Seek Loans Ahead of Friday Debut

Q: Can Starlink's profits sustain the massive cash burn from AI and still fund the colonization of Mars?

No. Starlink is a powerful cash generator, but on current numbers it does not appear able to cover SpaceX’s AI losses and also finance Mars colonization without outside capital. Starlink is the company’s strongest business. In 2025 it produced about $11.4 billion in revenue and roughly $4.4 billion in operating profit, with some estimates putting free cash flow near $3 billion. Subscriber growth has been rapid, and margins have improved as the network scales. That makes Starlink the main source of internally generated cash. But the AI business is consuming cash at a much faster rate. After the xAI tie-up, AI-related spending became the biggest drag on results, with reports of roughly $12.7 billion in AI capex in 2025 and a $2.5 billion operating loss in the first quarter of 2026 alone. SpaceX as a whole posted a net loss of about $4.9 billion in 2025 and another multibillion-dollar loss in early 2026, despite Starlink’s profitability. Mars adds another large bill. Starship, the essential vehicle for any Mars settlement, cost about $3 billion in R&D in 2025 and remains a multibillion-dollar annual program. A self-sustaining Mars colony would require spending far beyond current Starship development. That means Starlink is effectively subsidizing AI and Starship, but not enough to fully fund both. For the model to work, SpaceX likely needs some combination of IPO proceeds, much stronger AI revenue, and major Starship cost reductions through successful reusability and scale.

3 articles · Updated · Bloomberg · Jun 10

Anna Watts, a 33-year-old New York PR manager, set aside $6,500 for SpaceX shares and tried to raise another $5,000 before the stock starts trading Friday.
Two funding attempts failed — her best friend declined to lend the money and a bank rejected her loan application — underscoring how aggressively some retail buyers want in.
Watts said Tesla’s post-2010 surge turned her into an Elon Musk believer, and that track record is driving broader demand for SpaceX as a rarer chance to buy into his next venture.
SpaceX’s appeal reaches beyond rockets: investors are chasing exposure to a business tied to satellite communications, artificial intelligence and Musk’s longer-shot Mars ambitions.