Starlink is so strong that it’s propping up SpaceX’s business. Enter Amazon.Starlink is so strong that it’s propping up SpaceX’s business. Enter Amazon.

Ahead of SpaceX’s highly anticipated IPO in June, we’re learning just how dependentthe rocket and AI company is on its satellite internet business. New reporting from The Information shows that in 2025, Starlink generated $11.4 billion in revenue and $7.2 billion in adjusted EBITDA — a striking 63% margin — making it SpaceX’s only meaningful source of profit.

• By contrast, the company’s core rocket launch business and its recently acquired AI unit, xAI, lagged far behind financially. The space launch business generated $4.1 billion in revenue and about $700 million in adjusted EBITDA, while the AI segment brought in $3.2 billion in revenue but lost roughly $1.2 billion on an EBITDA basis.
• In other words, Starlink accounted for most of SpaceX’s revenue — and more than all of its adjusted profit.

Which, naturally, is why we also learned Tuesday that Jeff Bezos wants a piece of that action. 

• Amazon, where Bezos is the executive chairman, said it would shell out $11.6 billion to buy Globalstar, a satellite company that would help Amazon compete with Starlink. The deal will help Amazon “deliver continuous connectivity for consumer, enterprise, and government customers around the world,” the company said. 
• That $11.6 billion chunk of change would make Globalstar Amazon’s second-biggest acquisition ever, after its 2017 purchase of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. 

The Takeaway

Sure, satellite internet seems like an extremely lucrative business. But Amazon’s push feels like yet another way that gigantic tech companies, which used to have their own very specific and defined lanes where they could pile up gazillions of dollars in profits, are broadening out to try to fiercely compete in the same business areas as other tech giants. Alexa, how many ways can tech billionaires compete in space and still be way less cool than the Artemis II crew?