SpaceX files – SpaceX has filed financial information with U.S. regulators as it moves toward a potential IPO in mid-June, a deal that could raise about $80 billion and value the company at more than $1 trillion. With rocket launches and AI efforts both losing money in the f
On Sept. 9, 2024, a SpaceX rocket was being prepared for another attempt at liftoff at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida—another day in a company’s relentless push to turn spaceflight into something routine.
By mid-June, though, SpaceX may be chasing a different record: the biggest initial public offering in history.
The space-launch company has filed financial information with U.S. regulators to carry out what could be the largest IPO ever. SpaceX did not disclose how much it intends to raise. but previous media reports have said it could pull in about $80 billion. If it reaches that scale, it would dwarf the $29 billion Saudi Aramco raised after its 2019 offering. The same reports suggest the deal could value SpaceX at over $1 trillion. placing the company among the most valuable in the world—and possibly even beyond Tesla’s market position.
Such numbers could also make Elon Musk even wealthier. The former adviser to President Trump holds a controlling interest in the company. according to the documents. and SpaceX’s IPO would be another step in the long-running fusion of his ambition and his business portfolio. Musk has already been widely described as one of the world’s wealthiest people. and the prospect of a trillion-dollar valuation for SpaceX has reignited speculation about whether he could become the first trillionaire.
The paperwork arrives after months of anticipation. Earlier this year, SpaceX filed confidential paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to begin the process of selling shares to the public, a move reported by the Associated Press and others in April.
On Wall Street, the timing matters. The IPO could set off a blockbuster year for markets that are also watching potential listings from OpenAI and Anthropic. the makers of ChatGPT and Claude. respectively. Those companies. like SpaceX. are private and seen as central to the AI boom—yet SpaceX’s path to public markets would bring a different kind of spotlight. one that reaches beyond code and models and into rockets. defense contracts. and satellite internet.
SpaceX is not just a launch business. The company makes reusable rockets and operates its Starlink satellite communications platform. Last year, it also merged with Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI.
The financial picture inside the filing is one of the sharpest tensions surrounding any potential IPO. In the first quarter of this year, two of SpaceX’s three main businesses lost money. Its rocket launching business lost $662 million, according to the document. Its AI business lost nearly $2.5 billion. Only its satellite communications business—Starlink, which runs an internet service provider—turned a profit of $1.1 billion.
Taken together, SpaceX lost $4.2 billion between January and March.
For public-markets investors. the pitch of an IPO is straightforward: it offers a way to buy shares in some of the most high-profile private companies driving new industries. It also brings large inflows of money to the company itself and to earlier private investors who funded growth before the public markets arrived.
But there is a reason IPO excitement often comes with a second set of expectations. Analysts say that once companies go public, their share prices often underperform the broader market.
Franco Granda. a research analyst who covers SpaceX for the data firm PitchBook. described the pattern as “pretty jarring how bad it is.” He also pointed to what changes when a tightly held company becomes public: the scrutiny multiplies. Closely watched IPOs like SpaceX’s mean more oversight from financial regulators and the general public. and Granda said the resulting “big” valuation sometimes becomes difficult to justify.
SpaceX’s story is also inseparable from Musk himself. He founded the company in 2002 with the goal of one day creating a self-sustaining colony on Mars. Over time, he changed rocket economics by developing a reusable first-stage that cut costs.
SpaceX has also built a large footprint in the sky. It has won numerous contracts launching defense satellites, commercial payloads, and astronauts aboard its Dragon capsule. The company has secured billions in contracts from the Department of Defense and NASA.
An analysis by independent firm Brycetech says that 85% of all launches last year were aboard SpaceX rockets—placing the private company ahead of even nation states like China and Russia.
Even with that dominance, much of SpaceX’s revenue does not come from launching. Tim Farrar. president of TMF associates. said launching things into space accounts for only a small part of SpaceX’s revenue. Farrar said the larger share comes from its satellite internet business through Starlink. Yet he doubts that even Starlink can fully justify a trillion-dollar valuation.
“The valuation is completely dependent on the degree to which people believe in Elon Musk,” Farrar said. “It’s not dependent on the current business.”
That dependency may be the biggest unanswered question as SpaceX moves toward a public listing: whether the company’s next valuation will be anchored to its balance sheet—or to the confidence of investors who are betting that Musk’s long-term bets will eventually outrun today’s losses.
SpaceX IPO Elon Musk Starlink xAI U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Wall Street rocket launches AI losses valuation