Elon Musk's SpaceX has done something almost unheard of in the stock market: it announced its suggested share price more than a week before its planned listing, which it hopes will be the largest initial public sale in history. In a filing, SpaceX said its shares should go for $135 (£100) each, valuing the firm at roughly $1.75tn - up from $1.25tn earlier this year. That's a lot of faith in rockets, AI chatbots, and space-based internet, but the actual price will ultimately be decided by buyers, so don't start spending that trillion just yet.
SpaceX is expected to start trading on the Nasdaq stock index on 12 June, aiming to raise $75bn - a record that would crush Saudi Aramco's $25.6bn from 2019. If shares sell at or above $135, the company immediately becomes one of the most valuable in the world, and Musk, who controls more than 80% of SpaceX, could become a trillionaire. But according to Dealogic, almost half of companies that have gone public in the last 30 years have seen their value decrease post-listing. "There is no doubt the valuation is incredibly rich," said Samuel Kerr of Mergermarket, noting SpaceX's price-to-sales ratio exceeds that of any "Mag 7" company (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Tesla). Kerr added that SpaceX is being valued on future earnings, so some investors might overlook the current numbers.
And those numbers are a mixed bag. Last year, SpaceX brought in $18.6bn in revenue but had a net loss of $4.9bn. In the first three months of this year, it made $4.7bn in sales but lost $4.3bn. The balance sheet shows $102bn in assets (rockets, etc.) and $60.5bn of debt. Beyond space exploration, SpaceX is investing heavily in AI, social media, space-based internet, and data centres - including the acquisition of xAI (home of the Grok chatbot) earlier this year. Musk believes developing space infrastructure is the best way to power AI, given Earth's land scarcity, and has outlined plans for AI satellites and orbital data centres. Ruth Foxe-Blader of Citrine Venture Partners called SpaceX an "absolutely sprawling, enormous project" with many selling points pointing to the future. The listing comes as other tech giants like Anthropic and Alphabet also seek cash for AI spending.