SpaceX IPO could break records – and test Wall Street’s faith in Musk
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to begin trading publicly Friday in what could become the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history.
The company previously told the Securities and Exchange Commission it plans to raise roughly $75 billion by selling more than 555 million shares. SpaceX has indicated an expected share price of about $135, though the final pricing is expected later Thursday and could change.
If those numbers hold, SpaceX could debut with a valuation approaching $1.75 trillion, placing it among the world’s most valuable publicly traded companies. The stock will trade under the ticker symbol SPCX.
A referendum on Elon Musk
The offering will also serve as a direct measure of how much faith investors still have in Musk.
Earlier this year, SpaceX acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, linking the company’s future not only to rockets and satellite launches, but also to the rapidly expanding AI sector.
“For a lot of people looking at this deal, whether you want to buy it or not is in part a bet on Elon Musk,” Angelo Bochanis, an associate at Renaissance Capital, told NPR.
That dynamic is becoming increasingly important as some of the largest AI-related public offerings in history move toward the market. As Straight Arrow reported, analysts say retail investors are often buying into a company’s story and future ambitions as much as its financial performance.
Investors would also be buying into a company that remains firmly under Musk’s control. Musk is expected to retain at least 80% of the company’s voting power after the offering.
“There are a lot of people who are really sold on his vision and sold on his expertise running this company thus far,” Bochanis said.
At the same time, some investors remain wary of Musk’s growing list of responsibilities across multiple companies.
While he helped build Tesla into the world’s most valuable automaker, the company faced turbulence after Musk took on a prominent role in the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency in 2025.
Going public will also expose SpaceX to greater scrutiny as investors seek more transparency about revenue, profitability and long-term growth plans.
The offering could also affect investors who have no intention of buying SpaceX shares directly. As Straight Arrow previously reported, Nasdaq and other index providers have shortened or are considering shortening waiting periods that typically keep newly public companies out of major indexes for several months.
Analysts estimate those changes could trigger billions of dollars in automatic purchases by index-tracking funds, potentially putting SpaceX into retirement accounts and other passive investments far sooner than is typical for a newly public company.
AI IPO wave takes shape
SpaceX is also expected to be the first in what could become a wave of blockbuster AI-related public offerings.
OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, and Anthropic, creator of Claude, have both filed paperwork to begin the IPO process.
Together, the offerings will force investors to answer a difficult question: how much future growth are they willing to pay for today?
“We still are very early in terms of innovation and technology development,” Principal Venture Partners managing partner Songyee Yoon told NPR. “There is a long way to go, which means it will be a very bumpy road.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
