SpaceX Goes Public: The Largest IPO in Market History

Imagine owning stocks of a company that wants to send humans to mars, and provides internet to the most remote corners of the world. For two decades, Elon Musk’s SpaceX was completely off limits to everyday investors, however this ends on June 12th, where SpaceX will go public and offer the largest IPO in the stock market in history.

An IPO, or Initial Public Offering is the very first time a private company sells its stock to the public. SpaceX has remained a private company, receiving its funding from billionaire investors. It’s listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange to raise 75 billion dollars, and this event will raise nearly three times more money than the previous record set by Saudi Aramco.

While SpaceX is known for its rocket, the real financial engine of the company is Starlink, its satellite internet services, with more than 10 million paying subscribers worldwide. Starlink provides the consistent revenue that wall street requires. However, there are certain risks associated with the hype present around this event. SpaceX still loses billions of dollars on paper, due to heavy infrastructural requirements and investments, along with its recent merge with Musks’s AI venture, xAI. Additionally, buying the stock places absolute trust in the founder, allowing Musk to retain 85% of the voting power, leaving public shareholders with virtually no say in the running of the business. 

Data:

Ticker Symbol: SPCX (Nasdaq)

Target Valuation: (Approx. 1.75 Trillion USD)

Expected IPO Raise: $75 Billion

Target Share Price: $135

Buying into the SpaceX IPO follows the principle of high-risk, high reward, as investors would pay a high price for a company that isnt quite fully profitable, betting purely on the future dominance on space travel and global telecommunications. For regular investors, the safer route is to wait a few months for the hype to settle down than to buy at peak prices on day one.