Elon Musk’s SpaceX began its first day as a public company on Wall Street Friday after the biggest initial public offering in history, with the polarising entrepreneur promising he will take humanity to Mars.
The blockbuster operation, which will raise at least $75 billion, is expected to make Musk the world’s first trillionaire and kick off a series of major IPOs by AI companies in the coming months.The first trades — and the level of demand — were expected to be confirmed shortly after the opening of the Nasdaq market in New York.
Early indications showed the share price could kick up 25 percent higher from its $135 introduction price.
“SpaceX wants to be able to take you to the Moon, take you to Mars, and ultimately beyond,” Musk said at a launch event in Starbase, Texas, surrounded by staff.
“I’m confident at this point that with the incredible team that we have here at SpaceX, that we will do that for you,” Musk added.
About 100 people assembled outside the Nasdaq exchange in New York, where SpaceX also marked the occasion with company president Gwynne Shotwell ringing an opening bell as staff and investors applauded.
Musk “sets very futuristic goals that no one else is doing, and I think that has got a lot of people excited,” said Sarin Sio, of financial company Dovetail, who had come to Times Square for the market debut.
The IPO places SpaceX in the top 10 of Wall Street’s biggest companies with a valuation of just under $1.8 trillion — ahead of Tesla, Facebook-owner Meta and Walmart.
Options for nearly 83 million additional shares could push the total above $86 billion.
Co-founded by Musk in 2002, the rocket startup has since expanded into a major satellite operator and has also folded in Musk’s artificial intelligence company — xAI — which includes the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
The conglomerate will trade under the ticker symbol “SPCX,” and all eyes will be on how Wall Street absorbs the offering.
SpaceX is the first out of the gates among leading AI giants eyeing public markets, with OpenAI and Anthropic both recently filing initial documents with regulators.
