SpaceX: What's Behind the Largest IPO in History

In June 2026, SpaceX completed the largest initial public offering in world history. Elon Musk's company raised more than $85 billion, nearly tripling the previous record held by Saudi Aramco ($29.4 billion).

The offering was met with frenzied demand: investors submitted orders 3.5 to 4 times larger than the offering size ($250 billion). By the third day of trading, SpaceX shares had climbed to $218.98 from an offering price of $135 (up 62%), pushing the company's market capitalization above $2.5 trillion.

Why now?

For many years, Elon Musk stated he had no plans to take SpaceX public until flights to Mars became routine. In recent months, however, that strategy has shifted.

A key driver was the company's pivot toward artificial intelligence. Following its merger with xAI and a series of major deals in the AI sector, SpaceX has effectively begun transforming itself from purely a space corporation into a provider of computational infrastructure as well.

The company has announced plans to build massive computing capacity and data centers for AI (including in space). By SpaceX's own estimates, the potential market for such services could reach tens of trillions of dollars. Executing projects of this scale requires enormous amounts of capital, and the IPO allowed the company to raise funds without taking on additional debt.

Another important factor that determined the timing: it was critical for SpaceX to go public ahead of AI developers OpenAI and Anthropic, which are also preparing for their own offerings.

Political considerations played a role as well: as Bloomberg notes, it was important for Musk to list before the U.S. midterm elections in November 2026.

What makes investors so confident?

Going public forced SpaceX to disclose its financials: for 2025, the company reported revenue of $18.7 billion and a net loss approaching $5 billion. That means at a market cap of roughly $2 to $2.5 trillion, the market is valuing the company at nearly 100 times annual revenue. For comparison: Tesla trades at a multiple of around 17 times revenue, while many of the largest tech companies trade even cheaper.

That said, SpaceX's current business remains quite uneven. The main growth driver today is the Starlink satellite internet service, whose user base has nearly quadrupled over the past two years. At the same time, space programs and AI projects continue to require enormous investment: AI division losses alone exceeded $6 billion in 2025.

Nevertheless, this hasn't deterred investors. The market is essentially valuing not SpaceX's current financial results, but its potential position five to ten years out. Some analysts forecast the company's revenue will exceed $200 billion by 2030.

The Elon Musk Factor

A separate factor is Elon Musk himself. The record-breaking IPO made him the first official dollar trillionaire in history.

For many investors, SpaceX shares have become less a bet on the company's current performance than a wager on Musk's ability to deliver on projects that initially seem overly ambitious or even fantastical.

That's why many analysts speak of a "Musk premium"—an additional valuation investors are willing to pay for participation in his ventures.

What's Happening with Shares After the IPO

After the initial days of frenzied growth, a correction has begun: some investors are taking profits, and as a result the shares have lost about 10% over the past two trading days.

Additional volatility is being created by the offering structure. Initially only about 4% of the company's shares entered free float, but down the line, early investors and company employees bringing their stakes to market could add further movement to the stock.

At the same time, it's important to note that just 15 days after trading begins, SpaceX could qualify for inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 index thanks to changes in exchange rules. Once that happens, certain funds will be forced to automatically purchase the company's shares. Estimates suggest that within the coming weeks, around 30% of freely traded shares could end up in the hands of such passive investors.

What SpaceX's IPO Means for the Market

SpaceX's IPO demonstrated that investors are willing to finance even extremely expensive and unprofitable companies if they believe in the future projects these companies promise. With OpenAI and Anthropic set to go public soon, we're seeing the emergence of a new generation of tech giants built around the AI boom. According to estimates, the combined market capitalization of these three companies after their listings could reach $3.6 trillion.

The key question, however, is how quickly SpaceX can live up to investor expectations. Today the company is valued in the trillions of dollars while posting losses in the billions, so the stock's future performance will depend on the business's ability to demonstrate real growth rates against a challenging macroeconomic backdrop and the arrival of a new Fed chair who, meanwhile, has no intention of easing monetary policy.