SpaceX starts Nasdaq trading in $75 billion IPO
The Elon Musk-led rocket company began trading under SPCX, with its offering expected to rank as the largest IPO on record.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
SpaceX began trading on Nasdaq on June 12, opening public-market access to Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company. The Verge reported that the company started trading under the ticker SPCX at $135 a share in an IPO aimed at raising $75 billion.
If SpaceX raises that amount, The Verge reported, it would be the largest public offering to date. The listing also puts public investors into a company central to US launch activity, satellite internet and Musk’s broader group of businesses.
High demand for shares
The Verge reported that Musk is expected to control 85 percent of SpaceX’s voting shares after the offering. The IPO could also make Musk the first trillionaire, according to The Verge.
Retail investors may face limited access to the opening allocation. Bloomberg recently reported that demand for the IPO exceeded the available shares by more than four times, according to The Verge.
The Verge reported that investor interest reflects SpaceX’s position in commercial space. The company accounts for about 82 percent of US space launches and nearly half of the global commercial space market, according to The Verge.
Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet unit, passed 10 million subscribers worldwide earlier this year, The Verge reported. The Verge described Starlink as a high-margin business within the company.
Filing detailed ambitions and risks
SpaceX was valued at $1.25 trillion earlier this year after it merged with xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company that also owns X.com, formerly Twitter, The Verge reported. The combination means IPO buyers are entering at an unusually high valuation, according to The Verge.
The company laid out its plans in an S-1 prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in May, The Verge reported. The filing described future rocket launches, a permanent human settlement on Mars and orbital data centers intended to support AI systems.
The S-1 also described business ties among Musk-controlled companies, according to The Verge. Tesla owns nearly 19 million shares of SpaceX Class A common stock, amounting to less than 1 percent of total outstanding shares, The Verge reported.
According to The Verge, Tesla’s earlier stake in xAI was converted into SpaceX shares after Musk merged the AI company with SpaceX in February. The filing also said SpaceX buys Cybertrucks and Megapacks from Tesla and leases office space to the Boring Company, The Verge reported.
The S-1 listed Musk himself as a risk factor, The Verge reported. The filing said his other companies may compete with SpaceX for scarce supplies, according to The Verge.
Losses and index buying
SpaceX remains unprofitable, according to The Verge. The company lost about $4.9 billion in 2025 and burned billions more in the first quarter of 2026, largely because of spending on large AI data centers, The Verge reported.
At the company’s current spending rate, the $75 billion raised in the IPO could be used up within 2.5 years, according to The Verge.
The Verge also reported that investors who do not buy SpaceX shares directly could still gain exposure through index funds. Nasdaq changed its rules to let very large companies enter the Nasdaq 100 after 15 trading days rather than waiting for the annual December rebalance, The Verge reported.
That change means popular exchange-traded funds may have to buy billions of dollars of SpaceX stock soon after the listing, according to The Verge.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.