SpaceX IPO set for liftoff in record market debut

SpaceX, co-founded by Elon Musk in 2002, began trading on Nasdaq with the largest initial public offering in history. The company priced over 555 million shares at $135 each, valuing it at nearly $1.8 trillion—surpassing Tesla, Meta, and Walmart—and raising over $75 billion, exceeding Saudi Aramco’s 2019 record of $29.4 billion. Demand was overwhelming, with the offering more than four times oversubscribed, including strong retail investor interest, as 20 percent of shares were reserved for them. The IPO underscores Musk’s dominance in the AI and space sectors, integrating SpaceX’s satellite operations with xAI, his AI venture behind the Grok chatbot and social media platform X. Analysts question whether the valuation depends on unproven ambitions, such as deploying data centers in space or colonizing Mars, alongside the success of Starlink and xAI. SpaceX reported $18.7 billion in revenue for 2025 but a net loss of $4.9 billion, primarily due to AI infrastructure spending. Musk’s wealth, already at $782 billion, could triple to make him the first trillionaire, dwarfing rivals like Google co-founder Larry Page. Critics argue such concentration of wealth threatens economic affordability and democratic health, with protests outside Nasdaq highlighting concerns over xAI’s Grok chatbot generating fake sexualized images. The company’s filing projects a staggering $28.5 trillion in future revenue, though its ability to achieve such growth remains speculative. The IPO marks SpaceX’s first major public listing among AI giants, with OpenAI and Anthropic also preparing for market debuts. Trading under the ticker "SPCX," the company’s reception will reflect investor confidence in Musk’s vision, despite his polarizing public persona and past controversies. Executives rang the opening bell at Times Square, symbolizing the historic milestone in Wall Street’s largest corporate debut.