He doesn’t sound happy about it, but Elon Musk is apparently willing to keep footing the bill for Starlink access in Ukraine indefinitely.
What happened: The SpaceX CEO tweeted that the company would continue funding the satellite internet service, a reversal from a day before when he said SpaceX would have to be compensated by the Pentagon if it was to continue operating in Ukraine.
- “SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely,” Musk tweeted on Friday, adding that it costs around US$20 million per month to run.
- But by Saturday, Musk changed his tune: “The hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
Why it matters: The Starlink partnership has benefitted Ukraine (which depends on it as a reliable communications tool for its military and government) along with SpaceX, which earned widespread praise for donating the system.
Yes, but: Musk’s recent actions have eroded some of that goodwill and muddied what was once a purely positive story for his company.
- Last week, Ukrainian officials lashed out at Musk after he floated a “peace plan” that they regarded as pro-Russian.
- Ian Bremmer, president of the risk consulting firm Eurasia Group, alleged that Musk spoke directly with Vladimir Putin about the war just days earlier (a claim Musk denied).
Our thought bubble: After all that, Musk’s latest foray into geopolitics appears to have left him in a worse position than when he began. SpaceX is still paying for Ukraine’s Starlink system, but he lost some friends along the way—which, come to think of it, bears some similarities to the Twitter debacle.