Musk Ordered Starlink Slowdown in Ukraine, WSJ Reports
SPCX sits 52% above its 52-week low of $104.83.
Summary
Musk ordered a slowdown of the military-grade Starlink service Ukraine relies on, with speed caps imposed last week that left some offensive and interceptor drones virtually useless, per WSJ. The move triggered panic in Kyiv and confusion inside the Trump administration over who authorized it; Musk publicly said limits are decided by the US military and POTUS, while Trump said he didn't know who was responsible. Some officials say Musk acted unilaterally, others say he spoke with senior administration officials including Trump beforehand. This lands the same day SpaceX reported Q3 revenue of $14.6B and $4.4B net income, and it puts a political and reputational risk on the government-contract side of the Connectivity business. Ukraine's top diplomat in Washington said Tuesday they are still waiting for an official response from the Pentagon and SpaceX on whether service will be restored.
At the time of this announcement, SPCX was trading at $159.70 on NASDAQ in the Technology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $2T. The 52-week trading range was $104.83 to $225.64. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: Binance News.