SpaceX Makes Historic Nasdaq Debut After Record-Breaking $75B IPO

SpaceX raised $75 billion in the largest initial public offering in history, selling 555.6 million shares at $135 each, with the stock surging 19% on its first trading day to close at approximately $161.

The company began trading on the Nasdaq on June 12 under the ticker SPCX. The stock opened at $150 and closed its first day at approximately $161, giving the company a market capitalization above $2 trillion. In the days following, shares rose to a peak of $225.64 on June 16 before declining, falling below its $150 market debut price on June 23. The company's market capitalization briefly surpassed Amazon and Microsoft before the correction.

IPO Structure and Pricing

SpaceX set a fixed IPO price of $135 per share in advance of investor roadshows, departing from the traditional practice of establishing a preliminary price range. The company sold 555,555,555 Class A common shares. Underwriters had an option to purchase an additional 83.3 million shares. Total proceeds, including the overallotment option, reached approximately $85.7 billion.

The offering was structured as an all-primary sale, meaning proceeds went to the company rather than existing shareholders. Up to 30% of shares were allocated to retail investors — approximately three times the typical allocation for large IPOs. Retail investors could participate through platforms including Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood, SoFi Technologies, and E*Trade. Fidelity lowered its minimum investment threshold from $500,000 to $2,000.

Underwriting and Investor Demand

Goldman Sachs served as lead left underwriter, followed by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase, with 18 additional banks participating in the syndicate.

Total investor demand reached approximately $250 billion, representing oversubscription of nearly four times the planned offering.

Retail investors submitted orders exceeding $100 billion. BlackRock ordered at least $5 billion in shares.

Valuation and Financial Performance

At the IPO price, SpaceX was valued at approximately $1.77 trillion. The stock closed its first trading day at approximately $161, giving a market capitalization above $2 trillion. The price-to-sales ratio at the IPO was approximately 93.7 times 2025 revenue.

Financial Results

Segment Performance

Starlink had 10.3 million subscribers as of March 31, 2026, up from 5 million a year prior. Average revenue per subscriber declined from $99 (end of 2023) to $66 (Q1 2026). Total capital expenditures in Q1 2026 were $10.1 billion, with $7.7 billion allocated to AI.

Governance and Voting Structure

Elon Musk holds 42% of SpaceX equity but controls 85.1% of voting power through ownership of 5.22 billion Class B shares, each carrying 10 votes. After the IPO, his voting power is expected to be approximately 82.4%.

The company is incorporated in Texas and qualifies as a "controlled company" under Nasdaq rules, exempting it from certain governance requirements such as an independent compensation committee. Internal disputes must be heard in the Texas Business Court, 11th Division. Shareholders must own at least 3% of the company to bring a legal claim. The prospectus states that investors will not have the same protections as shareholders of companies subject to all Nasdaq governance requirements.

Key Shareholders

Compensation Structure

Elon Musk's compensation package consists of 1.3 billion super-voting Class B shares. Vesting is tied to three performance milestones: reaching a market capitalization of up to $7.5 trillion, establishing a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants, and building data centers capable of delivering 100 terawatts of compute per year. The company describes the Mars and data center goals as "improbable." The restricted shares carry voting rights from the grant date.

Use of Proceeds

SpaceX stated it will use IPO proceeds for:

• Expanding AI compute infrastructure
• Enhancements to launch infrastructure and vehicles
• Increasing scale and capacity of satellite constellations
• General corporate purposes
• Repayment of at least part of a $20 billion bridge loan within six months

$62.8 billion (78%) of the proceeds were pre-committed to: Valor Equity Partners, Musk's X Corp. and xAI creditors for debt repayment, and EchoStar for spectrum acquisition.

Related Party Transactions

The S-1 filing disclosed three equipment lease agreements between an xAI subsidiary (CTC) and Valor Equity Partners, the firm of board member Antonio Gracias. The leases, signed in October 2024, January 2025, and April 2025, total nearly $20 billion in obligations, guaranteed by SpaceX. PwC classified the transactions as a failed sale leaseback, recording $9 billion in debt. The filing does not state that the terms are at arm's length.

Other related-party transactions include:

• SpaceX purchased $131 million worth of Cybertrucks from Tesla
• SpaceX purchased $697 million worth of Tesla Megapacks for data centers
• SpaceX paid approximately $1 million to The Boring Company for tunneling services
• The Boring Company paid SpaceX approximately $1.2 million in office leases

Post-IPO Stock Performance

SpaceX shares experienced significant volatility in the first two weeks of trading:

The stock declined for three consecutive days from June 17-19, and for three consecutive days from June 22-24. At its peak, the company's market capitalization reached approximately $2.97 trillion, briefly surpassing Amazon and Microsoft. By June 22, the market value had declined to approximately $2 trillion.

Index Inclusion

Several index providers made rule changes affecting SpaceX's eligibility for inclusion:

• Nasdaq: Reduced the seasoning period from three months to 15 trading days for large IPOs. Waived low float requirements. SpaceX is expected to join the Nasdaq 100 with triple the available free float weighting.
• FTSE Russell: Adjusted rules to allow large-cap IPOs to join applicable indexes after five trading sessions.
• Morningstar and MSCI: Fast-tracked inclusion.
• S&P Dow Jones Indices: Announced no changes to eligibility rules on June 5. SpaceX remains ineligible for the S&P 500 due to its net loss, as S&P 500 constituents must generate positive GAAP earnings in the latest quarter and trailing four quarters.

Index participation will generate passive demand from funds that track these benchmarks.

Lock-up Provisions

Insider shares are subject to lock-up restrictions with staggered expiration dates:

• 20% of insider shares become eligible for sale after the first quarterly earnings report (expected late July or early August 2026)
• 10% unlock if the stock trades 30% above the IPO price ($175.50) before the earnings report
• Additional unlocks of 7% around August 21 and September 10
• Full 180-day lock-up ends in December 2026
• CEO Elon Musk's shares remain restricted until June 2027

Up to 911 million insider shares could become eligible for sale after Q2 2026 earnings, with an additional 1.3 billion after the full-year report.

Bond Issuance

On June 22, SpaceX filed for its first bond sale, with Bloomberg reporting the offering could be approximately $20 billion. The company stated proceeds would be used to repay outstanding borrowings under its bridge loan facility and cover related fees and expenses. The bridge loan was secured earlier in the year when SpaceX acquired xAI. Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley provided the bridge financing and are expected to manage the bond deal.

Business Segments and Market Opportunity

SpaceX identified a total addressable market of $28.5 trillion in its SEC filing:

• AI infrastructure: $26.5 trillion
• Connectivity (Starlink): $1.6 trillion
• Space: $370 billion

Starlink

Starlink operates approximately 10,000 satellites in low Earth orbit. It is the company's only profitable division. Revenue grew 50% year-over-year in 2025. Satellites have a useful life of five years, requiring periodic replacement.

Space Launch

SpaceX conducted more than four-fifths of global mass launched into orbit over the past three years. The Falcon 9 rocket is the company's primary launch vehicle.

AI and Data Centers

The AI division, formed after SpaceX acquired xAI in February 2025, operates the Grok chatbot and the X social media platform. The division reported $3.2 billion in revenue in 2025, with operating losses of $6.36 billion. AI capital expenditures reached $20.4 billion since early 2025.

SpaceX is building data centers including Colossus I and II in Memphis (2 million square feet total) and a $20 billion hyperscale center in Mississippi. The company has entered into non-binding compute leasing deals with Google ($920 million per month for 32 months) and Anthropic ($1.25 billion per month for approximately six months). SpaceX announced the acquisition of AI coding company Cursor for $60 billion in company shares, expected to close in Q3 2026.

Starship

The Starship rocket, designed to be fully reusable with a payload capacity of 100 metric tons, remains in development. A May 22 test flight deployed 20 dummy satellites, below the goal of 60. The S-1 filing states expectations for deploying V3 satellites using Starship in the second half of 2026. The filing identifies failure to develop Starship at scale as a key business risk.

Analyst Valuations

Morningstar analysts wrote that the IPO is "significantly overvalued" and that investors need to expect a 77% probability of their bull case to justify the $135 IPO price.

Goldman Sachs and Evercore ISI projected SpaceX total revenue could reach $474-486 billion in 2030, driven primarily by AI.

Market Impact

SpaceX's IPO affected broader markets. Space-focused stocks and ETFs rallied following the filing but declined after the IPO. The Procure Space ETF (UFO) gained approximately 65-69% year-to-date before the IPO. After the IPO, a basket of space stocks declined an average of 17% from June 11.

BNP Paribas estimated that retail and passive investors might sell a combined $50 billion of other stocks to raise funds for buying SpaceX shares.

The IPO occurred near the end of the second quarter, when over $100 billion of unrelated stock sales were already expected.

Regulatory and Legal Matters

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a 12-page letter to SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins requesting a delay in the IPO, citing concerns about valuation, governance, and investor protections. She stated that index funds and financial entities should be investigated for adequate investor protection.

Three lawsuits were mentioned in the S-1 filing regarding nonconsensual sexualized images produced by Grok. The company is also under investigation for the same issue. An advisory jury in Oakland, California found that Musk waited too long to sue OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman over breach of nonprofit promises.

Broader IPO Market Context

SpaceX is the first of three anticipated large IPOs in the AI sector. OpenAI and Anthropic have filed IPO paperwork indicating plans to list. Alphabet announced an $85 billion equity offering. Other private companies valued near $1 trillion planning IPOs include OpenAI and Anthropic.