Musk's SpaceX raises record $1.77 trillion in historic IPO

• SpaceX prices record IPO at $135 per share, raising $75 billion
• Offering values company at $1.77 trillion
• SpaceX becomes the seventh most valuable U.S. company
• Shares begin trading on Nasdaq under ticker SPCX amid strong demand

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has rewritten financial history by pricing the largest initial public offering on record.

According to official filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the rocket and satellite manufacturer successfully raised $75 billion by selling 555.6 million shares at a fixed price of $135 each.

The blockbuster offering values SpaceX at a staggering $1.77 trillion, catapulting the 24-year-old firm into the elite ranks of America’s top mega-cap corporations. When trading officially opens on the Nasdaq on Friday, SpaceX will land as the seventh most valuable publicly traded company in the United States, placing it ahead of major corporate giants including JPMorgan Chase, Meta, and even Musk’s own electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla.

The historic transaction comfortably shatters the previous global IPO record held by Saudi Aramco, which raised $25.6 billion during its 2019 market debut.

Musk bends Wall Street rules

In typical fashion, Elon Musk opted to skip the traditional Wall Street playbook during the flotation process.

Rather than setting an adjustable price range to test market demand during an extensive banking roadshow, SpaceX issued a rigid, "take-it-or-leave-it" fixed price of $135 per share early on.

Furthermore, in a rare move that defied conventional market timing, the company announced its final pricing structure while the US stock markets were still actively open on Thursday.

Demand for the historic listing was described by insiders as voracious, heavily outstripping the available supply.

Global asset managers like BlackRock reportedly sought slices worth up to $5 billion, alongside multi-billion-dollar orders from prominent Gulf sovereign wealth funds and private family offices.

However, instead of prioritizing institutional hedge funds, Musk heavily favored everyday traders.

In a deliberate structural shift, SpaceX reserved an unprecedented 20% to 25% of the total IPO allocation specifically for retail buyers, giving individual investors direct, primary access to the highly anticipated listing.

Highly valued bet 

For public investors, buying into SpaceX at a $1.77 trillion valuation is a high-stakes wager on future growth.

The company is currently burning immense amounts of cash and operates at a fraction of the annual revenue generated by its trillion-dollar tech peers.

Financial disclosures within the prospectus reveal that while SpaceX's total annual revenue surged 33% to $18.67 billion, the company recorded a heavy net loss of $4.94 billion.

The financial strain continued into the first quarter, with a reported net loss of $4.28 billion against $4.69 billion in revenue.

The deficit is largely fueled by skyrocketing capital expenditures, which more than doubled to $10.1 billion in Q1—a massive $7.7 billion slice of which was poured directly into artificial intelligence development.

SpaceX's modern corporate profile extends far beyond manufacturing reusable Falcon 9 and Starship rockets:

• Starlink: The company's satellite internet division now services over 12 million global subscribers via an orbital constellation of 9,600 satellites. It remains the company's primary operational revenue driver and its only structurally profitable unit.
• xAI Integration: The financial landscape of the firm changed fundamentally following a February merger with Musk's artificial intelligence venture, xAI.

SpaceX is pitching investors on an unprecedented $28.5 trillion total addressable market, anchored by the long-term goal of building massive "orbital data centers" in space to bypass terrestrial energy limitations.

Wall Street divided

The investment community is deeply fractured over whether the $1.77 trillion price tag is financially justified.

Wall Street analysts at Oppenheimer initiated coverage with an "outperform" rating and a bullish 18-month target of $190 per share, calling SpaceX the world's "only vertically-integrated AI company" possessing the necessary hardware, capital, and engineering talent to dominate the next industrial era.

New Street Research similarly backed the debut, valuing the standalone xAI component alone at $575 billion.

Conversely, independent research firm Morningstar issued a stark warning, initiating coverage with a fair value estimate of just $780 billion, roughly 55% below the IPO price. Analysts noted that paying roughly 94 times trailing annual revenue represents an extreme premium, warning that the company has warned investors it may not achieve reliable GAAP profitability anytime soon. Reflecting these concerns, S&P Dow Jones Indices formally rejected proposals to fast-track the stock, citing strict requirements for consecutive quarters of positive earnings.

The Nasdaq, however, adjusted its rules to allow the stock to enter the widely tracked Nasdaq-100 index after just 15 days of trading, ensuring that everyday retirement savers holding passive index funds will soon automatically own a piece of the aerospace giant.

The massive capital injection officially positions Elon Musk to become the world’s first paper trillionaire.

Musk's personal 42% stake in SpaceX is now valued at $866.5 billion. Combined with his $320 billion in Tesla holdings, his personal net worth will comfortably clear the $1.1 trillion threshold when the opening bell rings.