SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq on Friday in the largest initial public offering ever, raising roughly $75 billion and sending shares sharply higher in early trading. The stock opened at $150, briefly reached as high as $175 and was trading around $160 by midday, more than 15% above the IPO price. That early surge pushed SpaceX’s market value above $2 trillion and made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
Musk, SpaceX’s chairman, CEO and controlling shareholder, marked the occasion by ringing the Nasdaq opening bell at the company’s Starbase headquarters in Texas while employees celebrated both there and on the Nasdaq trading floor in New York. SpaceX will trade under the ticker SPCX.
The company and its bankers had set an IPO price of $135, valuing SpaceX at about $1.77 trillion before public trading began. Market reactions were volatile, reflecting the broader tendency of IPOs to swing dramatically in early trading.
Founded in 2002, SpaceX helped pioneer private-sector access to space. It now ferries NASA astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station and is expected to play a major role in future lunar missions. While launches and government and military contracts have been core revenue drivers, the company has diversified into businesses such as Starlink satellite internet and, more recently, the xAI operation that SpaceX acquired in February.
Financially, SpaceX is not yet consistently profitable. Last year the company reported roughly $19 billion in revenue, and some analysts remain skeptical about the sky-high valuation. Morningstar analysts published a valuation near $780 billion and called the IPO pricing elevated given current financials.
Leading banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup served as underwriters for the offering. Goldman Sachs’ president said the IPO signals strong capital-market appetite to finance AI-related infrastructure and space technologies, and Wall Street’s enthusiasm for AI-linked companies has helped buoy major indexes despite geopolitical tensions.
SpaceX’s debut is also being watched as part of a wave of AI-related listings: other high-profile AI companies are preparing public offerings, though questions remain about long-term profitability and competition in the sector.
Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell pushed back on critics in interviews Friday, urging investors to consider SpaceX’s long track record of accomplishing difficult technical goals. She emphasized a long-term focus over quarterly earnings, saying the company is building toward “very futuristic” objectives.
The IPO also includes a retail allocation: SpaceX said it planned to make about 30% of the offering available to everyday investors through major brokerages. Observers expect that retail participation will be a visible component of the trading debut.
Beyond valuation debates, the listing will be watched as a test of market appetite for large, technologically ambitious companies and as a referendum on Musk himself, who remains a polarizing public figure. For now, early trading produced a historic financial milestone for SpaceX and its founder, while underscoring the volatile mix of optimism and skepticism that often accompanies blockbuster public offerings.