SpaceX seeks US$75 billion in record IPO to fund AI, launch

[NEW YORK] SpaceX is seeking to raise US$75 billion in an initial public offering that would be the biggest of all time, as Elon Musk’s rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence company targets a historic debut that could clear a path for more mega-listings.

The Starbase, Texas-based company, plans to market about 555.6 million shares for US$135, according to its filing on Wednesday (Jun 3) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. At that price, SpaceX would have a market value of almost US$1.77 trillion based on the outstanding shares in the filing.

Musk’s decision to offer shares at a fixed price ahead of the order-taking is almost unheard of for sizeable US IPOs, unlike in Europe and Asia. Most companies typically announce a price range before marketing shares during investor presentations, with only a handful of tiny firms skipping the opportunity to gauge demand, and potentially build excitement by pricing at the top or above.

At US$75 billion, SpaceX’s IPO would easily top Aramco’s record US$29.4 billion listing in 2019, and would open the door to debuts for OpenAI and Anthropic PBC. The firms are expected to target double-digit billion-dollar IPOs of their own if they both go ahead with plans to list as soon as this year, catching investors’ seemingly unquenchable thirst for AI themes.

Accounting for employee stock options and restricted stock units, the company would have a fully diluted value of at least US$1.8 trillion. That compares with a valuation of US$1.25 trillion the company, known formally as Space Exploration Technologies, reached in February when it acquired Musk’s AI business xAI, Bloomberg News reported.

At US$1.8 trillion, SpaceX would be bigger than all but six of the companies in the S&P 500 Index, and larger than Musk’s own Tesla.

Lofty goals

The share sale is set for Jun 11 and SpaceX is expected to begin trading the following day, according to terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News. The filing tees the company up to begin the formal marketing process for the IPO on Thursday, where Musk and executives officially take their pitch to investors, reeling off SpaceX’s grand plans not only for so-called orbital AI compute at scale but building out its direct-to-cell wireless business, ramping up AI semiconductor production with Tesla, and eventually, building bases on the Moon and a colony on Mars.

The challenge remains squaring SpaceX’s lofty goals with its recent history. The company had a net loss of US$4.94 billion last year on US$18.7 billion in revenue, versus net income of US$791 million on US$14 billion of revenue in 2024, according to the filing.

The filing shows SpaceX signed a contract with Anthropic to provide AI compute for US$1.25 billion per month, potentially offsetting the AI business’ heavy cash needs. Both firms can terminate the agreement on 90 days notice, and Musk said on X on May 28 that SpaceX has not committed to leasing the compute for years, though it’s “possible”.

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Musk, the world’s richest person according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is expected to keep tight control over the company. He’s set to have 84.4 per cent voting power following the IPO, versus 85 per cent currently, through Class B shares that have 10 votes each versus one apiece for Class A stock. Musk’s 93.6 per cent of the Class B shares gives him the ability to elect 51 per cent of the board and decide on removing himself from leadership positions, effectively preventing his being fired against his will.

Critics of the IPO structure have cited how it gives Musk extensive control over the company, and provisions that would under Texas law require certain disputes to be handled in the state’s business court or arbitration. In a May 26 statement, Alliance to Protect Shareholder Value, a coalition representing several non-profit organisations, called the company’s governance policies “a serious attempt to decimate protections for shareholders in novel and reckless ways while trying to give near-total executive authority to SpaceX’s leadership”.

Almost trillionaire

At the offering price, Musk’s net worth would settle at roughly US$988 billion, according to calculations by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, just shy of making him the first trillionaire. Still, given shares can be sold at a higher price – and IPOs typically gain in their first day – he could hit the mark late next week when shares are expected to be listed.

Valor Equity Partners is set to remain the second-largest disclosed stakeholder in economic terms, with 6.7 per cent of the Class A shares, down from 7.3 per cent before the listing. Antonio Gracias, the founder of Valor and a longtime Musk ally, is a board member and has backed the rocket company for more than a decade.

Musk’s company pioneered reusable rockets, which were once considered a crazy idea, and built its Starlink satellite Internet arm into SpaceX’s largest revenue-generating unit. Now SpaceX is pitching public market investors on a US$28.5 trillion addressable market, most of which is focused on an AI infrastructure opportunity the company aims to conquer by initiatives such as putting data centres in space – a technology that does not yet exist.

SpaceX plans to use the proceeds for purposes including funding the expansion of its AI, rocket launch and satellite infrastructure, the filing shows. The company is required to use proceeds of certain debt financings and this IPO to repay within six months at least some of a US$20 billion bridge loan, according to the filing. Much of the loan was used to take out high-interest junk debt for Musk’s social media and AI companies.

Goldman Sachs., Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase are leading the deal, with 18 other banks participating. The company expects to make its debut on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas under the symbol SPCX. BLOOMBERG