Elon Musk’s SpaceX pitches investors $1.8tn valuation in historic IPO

SpaceX has said it is seeking to raise as much as $86bn at a valuation of $1.78tn, as Elon Musk’s space and AI conglomerate prepares for the world’s biggest initial public offering.

The company plans to sell 555.6mn shares at $135 apiece, raising $75bn, according to an amended IPO filing on Wednesday. The fundraising could rise to $86bn if underwriters exercise a so-called “greenshoe” option to sell additional shares — giving the group a market value of $1.78tn.

The IPO will cement Musk’s control of two of America’s most valuable companies, SpaceX and electric-car maker Tesla, a position without modern precedent. His special class of SpaceX shares will give him control of 82 per cent of the voting power at the rocket group.

SpaceX’s listing comes amid a race by Big Tech groups to raise more capital to plough into the AI race. Alphabet this week moved to raise $85bn in equity while AI lab Anthropic announced it had confidentially filed for its listing. ChatGPT maker OpenAI is also expected to unveil its IPO plans soon.

The deals will test Wall Street’s appetite for huge equity deals at a time when some investors are worried about high valuations.

Musk’s company said it would direct the proceeds from the IPO first to expanding its AI infrastructure, followed by developing space launch vehicles and building Starlink satellite internet constellation. The company has identified AI as its largest addressable market, but its push into the technology has required a vast investment.

The SpaceX IPO roadshow kicks off on Thursday, when Wall Street analysts at the banks underwriting the deal will walk investors through financial projections. Management will pitch institutional investors on a longer-term vision that includes orbital AI data centres, asteroid mining and eventually passenger transport to the Moon and Mars.

“By moving beyond the only home we have ever known, we ensure species-level redundancy and that the light of consciousness will not be tied to a single planet,” SpaceX said in the prospectus.

The document also makes clear that investors will have little say in the governance of SpaceX. Musk is entrenched through his ownership of nearly all of the supervoting class B shares, which are also the only share class with the power to remove him as chair or chief executive.