SpaceX sold 555.6 million shares at $135 each on June 11, raising approximately $75 billion in what multiple outlets described as the largest initial public offering in history, surpassing Saudi Aramco's $29 billion listing [4][6]. The offering valued the company at roughly $1.77–1.8 trillion, placing it among the seven largest publicly traded U.S. companies despite reporting $4.9 billion in losses last year on $18.67 billion in revenue, most of it generated by its Starlink satellite broadband division [3][4]. Elon Musk's stake, calculated at approximately $866 billion, pushed his net worth past $1 trillion, according to VnExpress [9].
Retail investor orders exceeded $100 billion according to El Financiero [5], though a separate El Financiero report put the figure at over $70 billion [10], against a 20% allocation reserved for non-institutional buyers, and roughly 1,000 institutional investors placed orders [5][10]. Simon Belsham, chief client officer at Hargreaves Lansdown, stated: "While we recognise this IPO might not be right for everyone, it's an exciting moment for many of our clients. We're expecting this might be a first foray into investing for many" [2].
Bullish analysts framed the valuation as forward-looking. Michael Monaghan, partner portfolio manager at FounderETFs, said: "When we drive a car, we look out the windshield, not the rearview mirror, so if you're an institutional manager like we are, you look forward and ask what the company could earn" [1]. He projected SpaceX could generate $50 billion in Starlink revenue and $50 billion in defense revenue by 2030 [1]. Timothy Horan, an analyst at Oppenheimer, set a $190 price target for the next 18 months, stating: "La consideramos la única empresa de IA integrada verticalmente con el capital, los datos, los másteres en derecho, el hardware, la fabricación y el talento en ingeniería necesarios" (We consider it the only vertically integrated AI company with the necessary capital, data, legal expertise, hardware, manufacturing, and engineering talent) [6]. Musk himself told JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon that deploying AI data centers in space represented a "massive new growth base and you need capital for that" [8].
Skeptics offered a contrasting assessment. James Chanos, founder of Chanos & Co., called the offering "una salida a bolsa basada en esperanzas y sueños" (an IPO based on hopes and dreams), arguing that the total addressable market for space is effectively infinite, allowing any narrative to justify the price [5]. Sinead O'Sullivan, an economist who has worked for NASA, said: "I think it's an Elon Musk ego project," adding that it was unclear what business or industry SpaceX is even in [2]. Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida, warned: "Many retail investors are unaware that about 25% of IPOs drop on the first day of trading, and an even larger percentage fall over longer horizons" [3]. Igor Pejic, a tech investing strategist, said Musk's personal influence would draw investors but that the company was overvalued at $1.75 trillion [7]. Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, stated that "the top 10 companies in the S&P 500 today are more overvalued than they were in the 1990s" during the dot-com bubble [1].
Governance provisions drew objections from pension officials and analysts across multiple jurisdictions. SpaceX's dual-class share structure gives Musk approximately 85% of voting power despite holding roughly 42% of equity, according to filings detailed by Chosun Biz and Le Monde's later analysis [17][24]; an earlier Le Monde report put the figure at approximately 79% [15]. Thomas DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller, Mark Levine, New York City Comptroller, and Marcie Frost, CEO of the California Public Employees' Retirement System, co-authored a letter stating: "Removal of the Company's most powerful officer would, as a mathematical matter, require his own vote — essentially making him unfireable without his own consent" [1]. Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, stated: "At the end of the day Musk is SpaceX and SpaceX is Musk" [8]. Additional governance concerns included mandatory arbitration, Texas domicile, and restrictions on shareholder resolutions and litigation rights, according to ESG Dive and Le Monde [25][16]. Le Monde's editorial analysis described the IPO prospectus as closer to science fiction than a realistic business plan [16].
A separate concern centered on passive investors. Nasdaq's rule changes allow faster index inclusion for newly listed companies, meaning index-tracking funds could be compelled to purchase SpaceX shares soon after listing [1][12]. Aleksander Tomic, associate dean at Boston College, said: "They have to buy the stocks that are in the index in proportion to their weighting within the index. As a result, they will all be forced to buy these companies immediately, and that could be highly undesirable" [1]. Colin Clark, lead adviser at Northwestern Mutual, added: "If SpaceX enters the Nasdaq, these fund managers can't simply choose not to track it because they are contractually obligated to follow the index" [1]. Brad Briner, North Carolina's state treasurer, said his pension fund would not buy a direct stake because it was too expensive but would "ultimately participate in SpaceX through our index positions" [1]. Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to the SEC asking it to delay the IPO, citing investor protection, market integrity, and the forced-buying dynamic [11][12].
Market strategists positioned the listing as a precursor to further large offerings. Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise, said: "Es un acontecimiento importante, una especie de precursor de Anthropic y OpenAI" (It is an important event, a kind of precursor to Anthropic and OpenAI) [5]. El Financiero reported that the offering set the stage for potential mega-IPOs from those AI companies [10].
Chinese-language analyses framed the IPO through a competitive lens. Sina News published a detailed assessment of how SpaceX's capital raise could absorb a disproportionate share of global space investment and widen the gap between U.S. and Chinese commercial space capabilities [22]. EET China warned that SpaceX's launch cost advantages could disrupt Chinese pricing models [23].
A separate macroeconomic reading came from Le Monde, which argued that the mega-IPO demonstrated the continued dominance of American financial markets over global capital allocation, concentrating unprecedented power in a single individual [17]. Russian outlets, meanwhile, reported that broker Finam had opened pre-IPO access for qualified Russian investors, framing the listing as a cross-border investment opportunity despite regulatory constraints [20][21].
SpaceX shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq on June 12 [8]. Whether the stock rises or falls on its first day of trading remains contested: bullish analysts project further gains toward $190 [6], while skeptics note the frequency of first-day declines in large IPOs [3].