New Delhi [India], June 4 (ANI): SpaceX set a price for its initial public offering at USD 135 a share, positioning Elon Musk's rocket and artificial intelligence company to exceed the 2019 initial public offering of Saudi Aramco in both valuation and money raised.
According to a news report by The New York Times, the USD 135 share price values the company at USD 1.77 trillion, making it the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history. SpaceX will raise USD 74.4 billion from the offering.
As per the news report, this valuation represents an increase of more than 40 per cent compared to the USD 1.25 trillion valuation the company gave itself in February. Saudi Aramco previously held the record, holding a USD 1.7 trillion valuation and raising more than USD 29 billion when it went public in 2019.
'Most companies that go public set a preliminary price range for their stock offering before settling on a final number in case investor demand for their shares changes. But Mr. Musk and SpaceX sidestepped that and simply declared one price for investors. SpaceX could still change that price but is not expected to do so. It is likely to begin trading on the Nasdaq next week under the ticker symbol SPCX,' the news report said.
'More than every U.S. I.P.O. combined in the last two years,' the report quoted Matthew Kennedy, a senior IPO market strategist at Renaissance Capital.
The offering serves as a bellwether for other massive tech offerings, including Anthropic, which filed confidentially on Monday, and OpenAI. Both artificial intelligence start-ups approach valuations of USD 1 trillion.
According to the news report, Musk, who controls a 50 per cent stake in SpaceX, will see his holdings valued at just over USD 752 billion. Regulatory filings show Musk cannot sell some shares until the company hits specific operational milestones. A surge in early trading could make him the world's first trillionaire. Musk controls more than 85 per cent of SpaceX shareholder votes through super-voting shares.
An IPO prospectus released last month revealed the company's financial results, with SpaceX reporting a loss of more than USD 4.9 billion last year due to increased spending on artificial intelligence, following a USD 791 million profit in 2024. As per the news report, revenue rose 33 per cent to USD 18.7 billion. The company will use the capital to fund orbital data centers, a lunar factory, and Mars expeditions.
'The records are broken more than once,' the report quoted Nicolas Owens, an equity researcher with the investment research firm Morningstar.
'A trillion-dollar market capitalization for a company going public used to be unheard-of,' Owens said, 'Now it seems normal.' (ANI)
