SpaceX Sets Share Price at $135 in Record-Breaking Public Offering

SpaceX is moving ahead of expectations once again. The company officially confirmed that it has raised $75 billion by selling shares to its underwriting partners, which are expected to begin marketing the stock on Nasdaq on Friday.

The company announced that its 555.6 million shares have been priced at $135 each. With that valuation, SpaceX has officially completed the largest initial public offering in history, surpassing the previous record set by Saudi Aramco, which raised $24.9 billion during its 2019 stock market debut. At this valuation, the offering also places Elon Musk on track to become the world’s first trillionaire.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the company’s full legal name, will trade under the ticker symbol SPCX.

While IPO pricing is often finalised at the start of trading, SpaceX chose a different route by setting its share price well before its market debut. According to reports, the company had already been gauging investor interest around the $135 share price before officially launching its roadshow. The offering, which departed from traditional IPO pricing methods, reportedly attracted demand for roughly four times the number of shares available.

Once active trading begins, SpaceX shares could move higher or lower depending on market demand. However, indications from market participants suggest that both major institutional investors and retail buyers are eager to acquire shares in the 24-year-old aerospace and technology company.

If investor demand proves to be as strong as many bankers have suggested, underwriters have the option to release an additional 83.3 million shares to the market. At the IPO price, that would generate roughly another $11 billion.

Hyperliquid, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market that offers synthetic exposure to SpaceX stock, is currently valuing the shares at approximately $167. That pricing suggests participants expect a traditional first-day IPO surge of around 20%.

Over the longer term, questions remain about how SpaceX will support and justify its enormous valuation. The company continues to pursue a range of ambitious engineering projects, including the development of the world’s largest reusable rocket and a new American semiconductor manufacturing facility, among other large-scale initiatives.

The individual who stands to benefit most from the public offering is Elon Musk. He currently owns just under 850 million Class A shares, each carrying one vote. In addition, he controls approximately 5.6 billion Class B shares, each carrying ten votes per share. That total includes a billion shares tied to a long-term performance target linked to the possibility that one million people could eventually live in a SpaceX colony on Mars.

The IPO will also significantly increase the wealth of Antonio Gracias, founder and chief executive of Valour Management. Gracias holds 503.4 million shares, giving his stake a value of nearly $68 billion at the IPO price. Other major shareholders expected to benefit from the historic listing include SpaceX board member and investor Luke Nosek, who owns 33 million shares, and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell, who holds nearly 12.6 million shares.

The public offering is also expected to generate substantial returns for many of the approximately 400 venture capital investors who supported SpaceX throughout its two decades as a private company, during which it raised around $40 billion in private funding.

In addition, a large number of smaller investors who gained exposure to SpaceX through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) are set to see significant appreciation in the value of their investments. However, because of the layered and often complex structure of many SPVs, some investors may not know the exact extent of their gains until months after SpaceX begins trading in markets.