SpaceX has raised $75bn (£56bn) from financial firms ahead of it becoming a publicly traded company on Friday, in what is expected to be the highest-value stock listing in history.
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the space exploration and artificial intelligence (AI) company said it had sold $75bn in shares priced at $135 each.
The share price matches the estimate SpaceX gave last week, leaving the firm’s expected initial stock market value to be nearly $1.8tn.
At that value, chief executive Elon Musk – already the richest man in the world – is set to become the world’s first trillionaire.
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SpaceX is selling only 5% of the total shares available in the company at first.
Once these shares start trading, their value could rise or fall depending on how many shares are made available for sale in the Initial Public Offering (IPO), and how strong the demand is for those shares.
If the company’s shares sell at or above $135 when trading opens on Friday, SpaceX will immediately become one of the most valuable public companies in the world.
However, it is up to investors to decide if they think the shares are worth that much.
Interest in acquiring a stake in SpaceX among investment funds and individuals, often referred to as “retail investors,” is increasingly expected to be high.
Certain financial analysts have already set target prices for the shares above SpaceX’s $135 estimate, including the global brokerage Oppenheimer, which said on Thursday it expects the company to hit $190 a share.
The public price for a share in the company is ultimately decided through what is essentially an auction on the open stock market.
Cooper, who grew up in California and who already has a portfolio of shares mainly in tech and crypto firms, plans to invest about £750.
“It’s really exciting. I really love the space industry. [SpaceX] has had a really great track record so far with their launches and their innovation,” she said.
While she expects the share price to dip at some point, she plans to hold onto the stock in the long term.
“I plan to keep it in my portfolio and let it grow.”
Many are seeing today’s SpaceX IPO as a huge bet on AI, and some analysts are sceptical.
“It’s a huge roll of the dice”, says Sinead O’Sullivan, an economist who has worked at NASA
“There’s so much built into one company, one share price here. Do I believe that Elon Musk is great at executing technological innovation? Yes. Do I believe that the share price is representative of the future value he’s going to create? Probably not…”
Tom Mueller, the first official employee of SpaceX and now the founder of Impulse Space, told the BBC’s Michelle Fleury “it’s unbelievable” to see what the company has become.
Mueller recalled when SpaceX got its first rocket engine running, and when that engine exploded, when another rocket crashed before “finally” making a successful launch to orbit in 2008
“It’s just been an incredible ride,” he said.
Mueller left SpaceX in 2020 and maintains a considerable financial interest in the firm.
SpaceX chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell told CNBC she was not sure the company would go public, but it “feels like the right time now”.
“We’ve been feeling over the last few years a lot of pressure from everyday Americans and our friends that wanted to buy stock,” she told the US business news network.
Shotwell said SpaceX has long-term ambitions and she does not want to focus on quarterly results.
“I’m not saying we’re not going to do right by our investors, but what folks that invest in SpaceX need to know… is that what we’re doing is very futuristic.”
The listing on the technology-focused Nasdaq index is being viewed by some as a test case for other companies with private valuations nearing $1tn, including Anthropic and OpenAI.
Both of those companies have recently said they are preparing to go public, likely this year.
Becoming a public company will lead to more scrutiny, but Musk will maintain almost total control.
Despite SpaceX becoming a public company, which will put its operations under more scrutiny, Musk will maintain almost total control of it.
He will maintain roughly 40% of SpaceX total equity through his combined holding of different types of shares, which come with extra voting rights meaning he effectively controls 85% of the company.
With so much control consolidated with Musk, SpaceX will not even need to have on its board of directors anyone considered to be “independent” – someone who does not have a direct personal or financial interest in the company.
Such control creates potential risk for investors, according to analysis from Harvard Law School, because SpaceX insiders will be able to make decisions on business deals, including possible acquisitions of other Musk-owned entities, as well as his compensation.
Already, SpaceX has acquired Musk’s startup xAI, which itself acquired the social media platform X in 2025. Musk had bought the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022.
Asked about the governance structure, chief operating officer Shotwell told CNBC: “There is no-one who can run this company other than Elon, frankly. We want him to have that control.”
Musk has divided public opinion in recent years, using his power and wealth in controversial ways.
He helped fund Donald Trump’s second run for office before their relationship imploded, secured billions in US government contracts and has dabbled in the internal affairs and politics of other countries.
His posts and comments about matters in the UK, Germany and other European states have frequently angered politicians. Sometimes they appeared to have come at a cost to his businesses.
BBC