SpaceX raised $75bn from financial firms in a pre-IPO placement, according to a company filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares were priced at $135 each, giving the space exploration and artificial intelligence company an expected initial stock market value of nearly $1.8tn when it begins trading on the Nasdaq on Friday.
Chief executive Elon Musk, already the world’s richest person, is on track to become the first trillionaire. His net worth is largely tied to his stakes in SpaceX, Tesla, and other ventures.
The IPO is expected to be the highest-value stock listing in history. The final public price will be determined through open-market trading, which could push shares above the $135 estimate. The global brokerage Oppenheimer said Thursday it expects the stock to hit $190 a share.
Interest from both institutional investors and retail buyers is expected to be strong, though the ultimate value depends on demand once trading begins. SpaceX’s public debut is being watched by other closely held technology companies. Anthropic and OpenAI, two leading AI firms with private valuations approaching $1tn, have said they are preparing to go public, likely this year. Analysts view SpaceX’s listing as a test case for those offerings.
The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 25,169.5 on Thursday, according to data from the Federal Reserve Economic Database, as markets awaited the listing.