The company’s decision to publish a price a week ahead of its landmark offering has few if any precedents among major US IPOs, and reflects Musk’s standing in the financial world as an adventurer with a golden touch – even as the capital raise will value SpaceX at very lofty multiples.
SpaceX is aiming to raise US$75 billion, the most ever for an IPO, in a deal that would value it at US$1.75 trillion, immediately placing it among the top 10 most valuable US-listed firms.
The company will kick off an investor roadshow on Thursday, with pricing expected on June 11; trading in shares will begin on the Nasdaq the next day.
Musk has rewritten the IPO playbook for SpaceX in many other ways, from planning to give retail investors a larger role in allocations to pushing for early index inclusion, and structuring governance to preserve strong founder control.
“Nothing about this IPO is normal in any course or sense, but then again this is the largest IPO in history so maybe that is not surprising,” said an investor who is planning on buying into the IPO.
On Wall Street, there has been a rush to get a piece of the deal, given Musk’s reputation and his control of an offering that stands to generate millions of dollars in fees – despite concern about the sky-high valuations that SpaceX will garner.
The prospective investor said there has been a sense that major firms are “posturing” by saying “we put the money in early” – a position that both reflects and reaffirms Musk’s leverage over investors.
SpaceX lacks a clear public market benchmark, given the paucity of public space companies and the company’s interests across aerospace, telecom and defence. The company posted a net loss of US$4.94 billion in 2025, even as revenue rose 33 percent to US$18.7 billion.
“On the face of it, a ~90x+ revenue multiple is high by any standard,” said Tim Hatt, head of research and consulting at GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of global telecoms industry body GSMA. “But then again, SpaceX is not traditional in any way and there are no true public comparables.”
The road show is where companies and their bankers typically sound out investors in order to arrive at a price range for their share sale. The process emphasises bankers’ relationships with potential investors and their understanding of the market for the coming offering.
After a series of testing-the-waters meetings with investors ahead of the roadshow, SpaceX indicated it was looking for a valuation of about US$1.75 trillion, while some investors sought US$1.5 trillion or less. (Reuters)
