SpaceX is looking to go public by early summer, setting founder Elon Musk up to be the world’s first-ever trillionaire.
OpenAI and Anthropic, two other major technology companies whose owners are competitors to Musk, are expected to file for similar mega-initial public offerings this year. But SpaceX is set to beat them to the punch, as it was revealed on Wednesday that the company has moved to file for what could be the largest IPO in history.
SpaceX submitted preliminary paperwork to sell shares to the public with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Bloomberg and multiple other outlets. The filing puts it on track for a June or July listing, with a valuation likely worth over $1.5 trillion.
Several of Musk’s companies fall under the umbrella of SpaceX, including Starlink, the world’s largest satellite communications company. SpaceX has also acquired X, formerly known as Twitter, and xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company. The merged value of the companies offers Musk a distinct opening to challenge OpenAI, Anthropic, and other major competitors for market dominance.
SpaceX is aiming for an IPO that could raise up to $80 billion from investors, according to the Wall Street Journal, with expectations that it could raise more than all U.S. listings in 2024 and 2025. SpaceX selected five banks to lead the offering: Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, according to the outlet.
Gene Munster, managing partner at SpaceX investor Deepwater Asset Management, said the IPO is expected to “easily” set a record for market debuts, raising more than $80 billion in his estimate.
“The narrative around [SpaceX] is that it’s early and they’ve got the pole position,” he told the Washington Post. “I could see it go vertical right out of the gate.”
When the IPO debuts, expectedly by July, SpaceX will be the first of the major AI titans to go public.
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Anthropic, which powers AI powerhouse Claude, is discussing going public as soon as October and is in talks with Wall Street banks to take leading roles in the listing, according to Bloomberg. OpenAI’s Sam Altman, who owns ChatGPT, appears to be gearing up for an IPO later this year. OpenAI closed its latest funding round earlier this week, setting a record at a post-money valuation of $852 billion.
OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said their financing “blows out of the water even the largest IPO that’s ever been done.”
