SpaceX Moves Toward Record IPO
SpaceX filed confidential IPO paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, according to two people familiar with the matter cited by the Financial Times. The Texas-headquartered company is targeting a valuation of around $1.75tn and plans to raise approximately $75bn, which would be more than double the size of any previous IPO globally. Saudi Aramco raised $29bn in 2019; Alibaba's 2014 offering, the largest US listing to date, raised $22bn.
A June listing is the working timeline, with some reports suggesting Musk has expressed interest in timing the debut to coincide with a rare planetary alignment and his 55th birthday. The confidential filing allows SpaceX to submit financials to regulators before any public disclosure; it must release a public prospectus at least 15 days before its IPO road show.
Structure and Shareholder Mechanics
SpaceX intends to float less than 5 per cent of its equity, an unusually small free float for an offering of this scale. The company is also considering allowing existing shareholders to sell down stakes on the first day of trading, bypassing the standard 180-day lock-up period that typically restricts insider sales after a public debut. The Wall Street Journal reported the fundraising target falls in a range of $40bn to $80bn.
The Nasdaq exchange this week revised its index inclusion rules in ways that materially benefit SpaceX's listing strategy. Nasdaq removed the requirement that at least 10 per cent of a company's shares be publicly available for Nasdaq 100 eligibility, a condition SpaceX would have failed to meet given its planned sub-5 per cent float. Nasdaq also reduced the waiting period for newly listed large-caps to join the Nasdaq 100 from three months to 15 days of trading. ETFs tracking the index manage approximately $520bn in assets, meaning index inclusion would trigger substantial passive inflows shortly after listing.
Company Profile and Government Exposure
SpaceX completed the acquisition of Musk's loss-making AI venture xAI in February, valuing the combined entity at $1.25tn at the time. The combined group now encompasses the Starlink satellite internet service, which operates a constellation of roughly 10,000 low-earth orbit satellites, and social network X, formerly Twitter, which was held by xAI. SpaceX has received more than $24.4bn in federal government contracts since 2008, spanning NASA, the Air Force, and Space Force, according to federal spending research firm FedScout. The company conducted 165 orbital flights during 2025.
At the mooted $1.75tn valuation, SpaceX would rank alongside Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon as one of only six companies globally with a market capitalisation at that level. By comparison, SpaceX was valued at around $90bn as recently as 2022.
Market and Structural Risks
The IPO faces meaningful external headwinds. US equity markets have been volatile, driven by the ongoing US-Iran conflict and elevated oil prices; the Nasdaq recorded its steepest weekly decline in nearly a year. Reena Aggarwal, a finance professor at Georgetown University and IPO specialist, told CNBC that even well-regarded companies with strong fundamentals can see offerings fail in volatile conditions. The June window is therefore not guaranteed. Critics of the revised Nasdaq index rules also argue that accelerating newly listed companies into widely tracked indices could distort post-IPO price discovery, a risk amplified by SpaceX's restricted float.
A successful listing would make Musk the first person to simultaneously lead two separately listed trillion-dollar public companies, given his existing role as chief executive of Tesla.
