SpaceX hits $1.51 trillion valuation in private markets ahead of June IPO

SpaceX shares traded at $634.05 on Forge Global on Monday, valuing the company at $1.51 trillion — a record in private markets — as investor expectations for a $2 trillion IPO build ahead of a June listing.

The rally has pushed SpaceX up 215 per cent over the past year on Forge, where accredited investors trade pre-IPO equity. That pace is unprecedented among large-cap private companies. After filing an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 21, SpaceX now faces a standard four-to-eight-week review. People familiar with the timeline told The Motley Fool the roadshow is scheduled for the week of 8 June.

At the midpoint of the rumoured $1.75 trillion to $2 trillion range, SpaceX would exceed any public listing in history. The offering aims to raise $75 billion, ECM Source reported — three times Saudi Aramco’s 2019 record of $25.6 billion. No capital markets event has approached that scale.

The valuation math carries caveats.

SpaceX generated $15 billion to $16 billion in standalone revenue in 2025 before the February 2026 acquisition of Elon Musk’s xAI added roughly $250 billion in value. At $1.51 trillion, the price-to-sales multiple is about 100 times. Sean Williams, an analyst at The Motley Fool, put it bluntly.

“Retail investors who chase the SpaceX IPO early are likely to be sorely disappointed,” Williams wrote Monday.

The consolidated company combines two businesses. Starlink, the satellite-broadband unit, generated $11.4 billion in 2025 revenue at 63 per cent EBITDA margins and reached 10 million subscribers by February 2026. That division accounts for about 70 per cent of pre-merger revenue and drives the valuation narrative. The legacy launch business, which contracts with NASA, the Department of Defence, and commercial satellite operators, produces smaller but steadier cash flow. xAI, folded in at a $250 billion valuation, contributes undisclosed revenue. Institutional investors canvassed by Bloomberg have cited the lack of financial disclosure around the AI unit as the biggest variable in pricing the IPO.

Governance structure

Musk will hold 79 per cent voting control after the listing through a dual-class share structure, the S-1 shows. His economic stake is 42 per cent. The arrangement resembles the governance structure at Tesla, where similar voting concentration has drawn criticism from proxy advisers but hasn’t stopped institutional investors from buying shares.

Public shareholders in the IPO would own a minority economic stake with no voting power over board composition, executive compensation, or strategy. That distinction matters for retail investors considering the $75 billion offering.

Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley are underwriting the deal. The five-bank syndicate signals both the transaction size and the competition for credit in what would be the largest equity capital markets event on record.

Related stocks

Rocket Lab rose for a second day on Monday as the SpaceX IPO timeline clarified. Chief executive Peter Beck’s company has become a public-market proxy for pre-IPO space exposure. Rocket Lab’s $28 billion market capitalisation is a fraction of SpaceX’s $1.51 trillion, but the correlation has strengthened as the roadshow nears. Open interest in Rocket Lab options has tripled across the most active strikes since the S-1 became public in late April.

AST SpaceMobile and Planet Labs also gained. The pattern isn’t new: Rocket Lab jumped 8 per cent when the SpaceX S-1 was filed, and Canaccord Genuity analysts raised their price target, citing the “halo effect” of the listing.

Timeline

The SEC review is in its third week. If the schedule holds, final prospectus amendments will land in late May and the roadshow will begin during the week of 8 June. Nasdaq reserved the ticker SPCE.

Proceeds from the $75 billion raise will fund Starlink expansion, Starship development, and general corporate purposes, the filing states. Retail investors will soon test whether Williams’s warning is heeded or whether the opening print draws immediate demand.