SpaceX raises $75 billion through record-breaking IPO.

Theo ReutersElon Musk’s rocket and spacecraft manufacturing company, finalized its initial public offering (IPO) price on June 11. This offering helped SpaceX raise a record $75 billion through the sale of 555.56 million shares.

Thereby, the value of this enterprise reached 1,770 billion USD. This is also the highest valuation ever recorded for a company in its first listing.

The price of 135 USD per share ends a months-long effort to realize Elon Musk’s most ambitious project ever. Reuters The assessment of this deal also goes against many traditional financial practices, in a context where some analysts are still skeptical whether the company’s huge valuation is really justified. Last year, the company still lost money and its revenue was far behind many top technology corporations.

When it begins trading on the Nasdaq exchange on June 12, SpaceX will become the seventh most valuable business in the US. With this valuation, SpaceX surpasses many big names such as JPMorgan Chase, Berkshire Hathaway, Eli Lilly, Meta Platforms and even Tesla – the electric car company also run by Elon Musk.

“The first trading day cannot say it all. The real test is how the market receives this IPO in the next few weeks,” said Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments in New York.

According to him, the offering price was set quite balanced, reflecting strong demand from individual investors. This is also the group that is playing an important role in this deal. After the IPO, Musk still holds about 82% of the voting rights at the company.

SpaceX’s issuance also broke the world’s largest IPO record previously held by Saudi Aramco. In December 2019, Aramco raised 25.6 billion USD on the Riyadh exchange with a valuation of 1,710 billion USD. If adjusted for inflation, this number is equivalent to 33.2 billion USD and a valuation of 2,210 billion USD.

SpaceX is currently valued at about $1,770 billion, based on 13.08 billion shares outstanding. This value could continue to increase if underwriters exercise their right to sell additional shares within 30 days after the IPO. Before that, Reuters said SpaceX aims for a valuation of about 1,750 billion USD.

The company announced the IPO price shortly after 3:00 p.m. (US time) when the valuation meeting with underwriting banks ended and the US stock market was still trading. Information is disclosed through a supplementary prospectus submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

About 30 minutes later, SpaceX issued an official press release. Normally, businesses will wait after the market closes at 4:00 p.m. to announce the IPO price to avoid fluctuations from news or macroeconomic factors affecting the deal.

This move continues to show Elon Musk launching one of Wall Street’s most notable IPOs in his own way. SpaceX reserves up to 30% of the shares offered for individual investors – a rare ratio in large-scale IPO deals.

The company also decides the issuance price before the investment opportunity introduction (roadshow), instead of through the process of exploring capital needs that has long been used by banks and investors.

“The valuation of SpaceX is really outside normal standards. I have never seen a business announce a price this way instead of establishing it through demand,” said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Jersey.

The US IPO market is forecast to recover strongly this year after the previous period of volatility. Goldman Sachs estimates that the total capital raised through IPOs could quadruple, to a record of 160 billion USD in 2026. In addition to SpaceX, the new wave of listings is also expected to come from artificial intelligence companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

SpaceX is a space technology company founded by Elon Musk in 2002. They specialize in developing rockets, spacecraft and satellite services.

The company is famous for reusable rockets such as Falcon 9, Dragon spacecraft and Starship super heavy launch system. SpaceX is currently the world’s largest commercial launch service provider, and operates the Starlink satellite Internet network with thousands of satellites in orbit. The company is considered an important factor in promoting the private space industry thanks to its sharp reduction in launch costs and its ambition to send humans to Mars.