Austin, Texas – SpaceX filed publicly for what stands to be the largest-ever initial public offering (IPO), revealing billions in losses and the super-voting share plan allowing Elon Musk to keep the rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence giant under his control. The largest private company, led by the world’s richest person, is targeting as much as US$75 billion in its listing at a valuation of more than US$2 trillion, people familiar with the matter have said. That would eclipse the US$29.4 billion IPO record set
by Saudi Aramco in 2019. SpaceX had a net loss of US$4.28 billion (S$5.5 billion) on revenue of US$4.69 billion for the first quarter, compared with a net loss of US$528 million on revenue of about $4 billion a year earlier, according to a filing on May 20 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The audacious plan by Mr Musk, 54, for an IPO of unprecedented size is set to transform both the public and private markets if it succeeds. A blockbuster listing, and
a rising share price after, would help dispel concern over whether private companies with limited financial disclosures and largely illiquid shares are reaching unjustified valuations in venture capital-led funding rounds. Mr Musk currently owns 12.3 per cent of the company’s Class A shares and 93.6 per cent of its Class B shares, which gives him 85.1 per cent of the voting power in the company, according to the filing. Because the Class B shares carry 10 votes each, Mr Musk will continue to control the
company after the IPO, according to the filing. SpaceX’s debut would also open the door for other private giants to plan their own mega-IPOs. AI firms OpenAI and Anthropic, whose products capture a greater share of chatbot website traffic than SpaceX’s Grok, according to Similarweb, are preparing for listings as soon as this year. The filing depicts a conglomerate with a maturity practically unheard of in a pre-IPO company. Overall, SpaceX had US$18.7 billion in revenue in 2025, up from US$14 billion the previous year.
During that period, the company swung from a profit of $791 million in 2024 to a loss of US$4.94 billion in 2025, according to the filing. SpaceX dominates the space transportation industry, and is a key rocket launch provider for both NASA and the Pentagon. So far, it derives the majority of its revenue from its Starlink satellite internet business. The company has spent billions on each segment, including US$3.8 billion in capital expenditures for space operations, US$4.18 billion on connectivity and about US$12.7 billion
for AI. For the three months ended March 31, the space segment generated revenue of US$619 million and a loss from operations of US$662 million, the filing shows. A year ago, the company’s Space segment generated revenue of US$4 billion and loss from operations of US$657 million. Subscribers to SpaceX’s Starlink internet service have roughly doubled over the past couple of years from 2.3 million in 2023 to 4.4 million in 2024 and up to 8.9 million in 2025. Income from those operations reached $4.42
billion last year, compared with $2 billion a year earlier. SpaceX’s AI operations, though, lost US$6.36 billion last year, compared with US$1.56 billion in 2024, the filing shows. A letter from the billionaire announcing the xAI acquisition declared the deal would create “the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth.” He outlined his vision for the company of its next-generation Starship rockets lifting satellites delivering Starlink internet directly to mobile phones, and later, orbital data centres. The least expensive way to do AI
computations within two to three years will be in space, Mr Musk wrote, by harnessing the sun’s power for data centres. These would one day be built in factories on the moon, and advance the goal of building a civilization on Mars. The company has moved to bolster its AI pitch to investors. SpaceX said on April 21 it has an agreement giving it the right to acquire AI start-up Cursor for US$60 billion later in 2026 or to pay US$10 billion for the companies’
work together. At US$2 trillion, SpaceX’s market value would be larger than all but a handful of the companies in the S&P 500 Index, and larger than Tesla, which Mr Musk also runs. His fortune, which stands at US$680 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, could surge if the IPO is a success. Mr Musk’s plan for SpaceX has drawn skepticism over whether goals such as data centres in space are achievable in anything like the foreseeable future, or even the stated aims of
Starship rockets refuelling while in orbit or putting 100 to 150 tons of cargo in orbit. Some analysts and observers have called previously discussed valuations well over Mr $1.25 trillion difficult to justify, based on earlier reports of financial information that showed revenue primarily coming from Starlink, and xAI’s heavy cash burn, which prior to the acquisition was averaging US$1 billion a month. Large pension investors have criticized Mr Musk’s proposed dual-class share structure and a provision giving him an effective veto over his own
firing. Much of the listing’s success will depend on the participation of retail investors, who could take as much as 30 per cent of the shares in the IPO. SpaceX plans to offer shares to retail investors through Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood Markets, and SoFi Technologies, as selling group members. SpaceX also plans to offer shares to retail investors through E*TRADE by Morgan Stanley, an affiliate of Morgan Stanley. Another key factor will be whether index providers including S&P Dow Jones Indices and FTSE Russell
decide to follow Nasdaq and change rules around how quickly very large IPO companies such as SpaceX can join key indexes. Funds that track the S&P 500 index must buy newly added stocks, and roughly US$24 trillion is tied to that index alone, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. The wave of potential mega-IPOs has sparked a cottage industry of funds and platforms offering exposure to coveted private shares before the listing turns small stakes into fortunes. Executives and investors have warned about funds claiming to offer
access to hot startups, a space with little transparency and limited regulatory oversight. BLOOMBERG
SpaceX, IPO, Elon Musk, dual-class shares, SEC filing, Starlink, AI operations, Cursor acquisition, S&P 500, Nasdaq index rules