SpaceX Raises Record $75 Billion at $1.77 Trillion Valuation

SpaceX, the company founded by Elon Musk, made history Thursday night with the largest initial public offering ever, cementing its place among the biggest public companies and bringing Musk closer to becoming the world’s first trillionaire. The company, officially Space Exploration Technologies Corp., said today it sold 555.6 million shares at $135 each. Trading is set to begin tomorrow on the Nasdaq.

At that price, SpaceX was valued at $1.77 trillion, or about $1.8 trillion on a fully diluted basis including employee options and restricted stock units. The deal is more than twice as large as Saudi Aramco’s 2019 IPO, which raised $29.4 billion. Retail investors submitted more than $100 billion in demand, far above the 20% allocated to them.

Not everyone welcomed the debut. Veteran short seller James Chanos called it an “IPO of hopes and dreams,” saying it reflects enthusiasm for Musk and artificial intelligence rather than the fundamentals of a company that has not yet turned a profit. Bloomberg reported that regulatory changes could quickly place the stock into major indexes such as the Nasdaq 100, which may drive further demand from passive funds and retail investors who missed the offering.

Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners, said it is likely “the most optimistic” IPO she has seen and that buyers “want to be part of the future.” SpaceX is the first of three major IPOs expected to tap investor appetite for leading AI companies. Anthropic and OpenAI are also expected to go public this year, possibly at valuations above $1 trillion each, making SpaceX’s stock performance a closely watched test for Wall Street and Silicon Valley venture investors.