SpaceX sets largest IPO in stock market history
SpaceX prices its shares at $135 after the close on June 11, raising roughly $75 billion in the biggest IPO ever, with trading set to begin June 12 on the Nasdaq.
- Shares are priced at $135 each, valuing the company at about $1.77 trillion and raising roughly $75 billion.
- Some 555.6 million shares are on offer, the price is set after the close on June 11, and first trading is June 12 under the ticker SPCX on the Nasdaq.
- It is the largest IPO ever, more than three times the size of Alibaba, with institutional orders above $250 billion and the book oversubscribed 3.5 to 4 times.
- Retail investors received an unusually large tranche of 30 percent of the offering, about $22.5 billion.
SpaceX will set the final share price of $135 after the New York close on June 11, lifting its IPO to the top of the all-time list for capital markets. At that price the company raises about $75 billion and carries a valuation near $1.77 trillion, with trading due to start the next day, June 12, on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX.
The $75 billion figure is more than a record, it is a layered signal to the market. The previous largest IPO was a fraction of this size, and with this offering SpaceX clears a threshold that until recently looked out of reach for a single private company. For comparison, Alibaba’s stock market debut, long treated as the benchmark for blockbuster listings, now looks smaller than a third of this deal.
How many shares are on offer, and who is buying?
The offering covers 555.6 million shares, only a small slice of the company’s total capital. Elon Musk is floating roughly 4 percent of SpaceX, so even after the largest IPO in history he keeps control: his share of voting power stays near 82 percent. It is a structure investors increasingly see at technology founders, where the equity is shared but the control is not.
Demand has overwhelmed supply several times over. Institutional orders, which include pension and hedge funds, topped $250 billion, leaving the order book oversubscribed between 3.5 and 4 times. In plain terms, every share on offer drew more than three willing buyers at the fixed price.
One detail sets part of the offering apart. Retail investors, meaning ordinary people buying through brokerage apps, were handed a 30 percent tranche worth about $22.5 billion. That is an unusually large slice for an IPO of this scale, since deals this sought after are normally allotted almost entirely to large funds. The decision to set aside a third for small investors signals that the company wants a broad shareholder base from day one.
The lead underwriters are Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the two banks that run the biggest deals on Wall Street. Their involvement adds weight to the listing and lowers the risk that the opening price runs out of control, a constant worry with offerings this large.
What does a $1.77 trillion valuation really mean?
A valuation of $1.77 trillion places SpaceX among the most valuable companies in the world, above most members of the large-cap indexes. It helps to separate two figures that are often confused: the $75 billion is the amount raised by selling shares, while $1.77 trillion is the total market value of the whole company at $135 per share.
For an investor watching a personal portfolio, this IPO carries both an opportunity and a warning. The opportunity is buying into a company that dominates satellite launches and is building a satellite internet business. The warning is the valuation itself: at $1.77 trillion the market is already pricing in years of strong growth, so any miss on results can be costly. Heavy oversubscription does not guarantee the price will keep rising after day one, because past deals show that some large IPOs quickly fall below their issue price once the buzz of the first session fades.
The next key moment is the opening of trading on June 12. That session will show whether the market accepts the $135 price or whether, as with some earlier blockbuster listings, the first day brings sharp swings up and down. Would you buy a SpaceX share at a $1.77 trillion valuation, or wait for the price to settle after the first few sessions?
