Musk’s SpaceX prices record $US75 billion IPO
SpaceX has priced the largest-ever U.S. IPO at $135 per share, making Elon Musk’s rocket and spacecraft maker one of the world’s most valuable companies.
The IPO raised a record US$75 billion ($A106 billion) from the sale of 555.56 million shares, valuing the space, satellite and AI provider at $A1.77 trillion ($A2.51 trillion); this was an initial offering record.
Thursday’s pricing caps a months-long effort to deliver Musk’s most ambitious project yet, even as it upends a handful of financial conventions and has some analysts questioning whether its high valuation is justified.
SpaceX will rank seventh among U.S.-listed firms when its shares begin trading on Nasdaq on Friday, but it has lost money in 2025, far outpacing revenue from other megavalues. That gives the company more value than a variety of firms like JPMorgan Chase, Berkshire Hathaway and Eli Lilly, as well as tech giants like Meta Platforms and Musk’s own Tesla.
“The real test will be how the market digests the IPO over the next few weeks, not just one day,” said Adam Sarhan, managing director at 50 Park Investments in New York.
“The pricing felt just about right, not too hot, not too cold. Clearly retail investors are buying and they’re a big component of that at this stage. We should see follow-through after the first day of trading.”
The sale broke the record for the largest-ever IPO by state-run oil giant Saudi Aramco, which raised US$25.6 billion ($36.3 billion) on the Riyadh stock exchange in December 2019, valuing it at US$1.71 trillion ($2.43 trillion). In inflation-adjusted terms, Aramco raised US$33.2 billion ($47.1 billion) for a valuation of US$2.21 trillion ($3.13 trillion).
SpaceX’s US$1.77 trillion ($A2.51 trillion) valuation, based on 13.08 billion shares outstanding, could rise further if underwriters exercise their rights to sell additional shares; this decision is usually made within 30 days of the offering. Reuters previously reported that SpaceX was seeking a US$1.75 trillion ($2.48 trillion) valuation.
Musk has also pushed, with mixed results, for SpaceX shares to be included in the index early to create a broader buyer base and structured the company’s management to maintain strong founder control.
Musk will retain 82 percent of SpaceX’s voting rights after the IPO. The U.S. IPO market is set to rebound sharply this year after previous volatility. Goldman Sachs predicts revenues will quadruple to a record US$160 billion ($227 billion) in 2026, thanks to a pipeline that includes not only SpaceX but also artificial intelligence companies OpenAI and Anthropic.
SpaceX said last week it had signed a multi-year cloud services agreement with Alphabet’s Google, securing computing capacity at a time of increased competition.
Founded in 2002, SpaceX defines its mission as “creating the systems and technologies necessary to make life multi-planetary, understand the true nature of the universe, and spread the light of consciousness to the stars.” SpaceX said the market opportunity is US$28.5 trillion ($40.4 trillion), the largest in human history.
Obstacles to the company’s massive valuation include efforts by rivals like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to accelerate the commercialization of space and efforts to pursue government contracts to unlock new markets beyond Earth.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, Citigroup and JP Morgan are serving as joint bookrunners for the IPO.
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
