Musk's SpaceX set to make Wall Street's biggest-ever initial public offering

Elon Musk’s SpaceX will begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange on Friday with an initial public offering (IPO) of more than 555 million shares priced at $135 each. The move is expected to raise over $75 billion, surpassing Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion record IPO in 2019, and value SpaceX at nearly $1.8 trillion—placing it among Wall Street’s top 10 companies ahead of Tesla, Meta, and Walmart. The offering could expand further with options for nearly 83 million additional shares, potentially pushing the total valuation above $86 billion. SpaceX, co-founded by Musk in 2002, has grown from a rocket startup into a major satellite operator and now includes his AI company, xAI, which operates the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The conglomerate will trade under the ticker symbol 'SPCX.' Demand for the IPO has been exceptionally high, with Bloomberg reporting it was over four times oversubscribed. Retail investors, who were allocated 20 percent of shares, also showed strong interest. The IPO is expected to create thousands of new millionaires and billionaires among SpaceX’s employees and long-term investors. SpaceX’s debut marks the first major AI-related company to go public, with rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic also preparing for market entries. Executives are set to ring the opening bell at New York’s Times Square, symbolizing the historic launch. The timing follows Musk’s departure from President Donald Trump’s administration last year, amid controversy over his political affiliations and public statements on X. Despite Musk’s polarizing reputation—stemming from his support for Trump and right-wing populists in Europe—the IPO reflects sustained investor confidence. Analysts will closely watch how Wall Street absorbs the record-breaking valuation, which underscores SpaceX’s dominance in aerospace and emerging tech sectors.