Elon Musk says retail investors will get ‘top priority’ for Starlink IPO
Musk says he’s a ‘huge fan of small retail investors’
Musk battles Bezos, Queen in the internet-from-space race
For what it’s worth, Musk faces competition in the internet-from-space race. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos isfunnelling $10 billioninto a similar venture, Project Kuiper, having secured approval from the FCC to launch its own constellation of 3,236 internet satellites. So far, it hasn’t launched any.
There’s also theQueen. In June, the UK government paid $500 million for a45% stake in OneWeb, the London-headquartered internet-from-space firm that declared bankruptcy in March.
[Read: Elon Musk’s 420th Starlink satellite is more than just a weed joke]
At the time, UK business secretary Alok Sharma confirmed the Crown’s interest in bringing OneWeb’s manufacturing infrastructure to Britain, reviving the project.
OneWeb initially raised more than $3 billion, but ran out of money before it could offer a commercial product. There’s currently 74 of the 649 planned OneWeb satellites in low-orbit.
However, the deal looks to be in jeopardy after a UK parliamentary committeereportedly arguedthe purchase had pushed through without regulatory oversight, and noted it would be looking into the matter.
[H/T Reuters]
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Story byDavid Canellis
David is a tech journalist who loves old-school adventure games, techno and the Beastie Boys. He’s currently on the finance beat.David is a tech journalist who loves old-school adventure games, techno and the Beastie Boys. He’s currently on the finance beat.
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