SpaceX IPO targets $75B at $135 a share, source says

SpaceX is taking a $75 billion ask to public-market investors. Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company plans to price its initial public offering at $135 a share and sell 555.6 million shares, Reuters reported early Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the plan.

The fixed-price offer would value SpaceX at about $1.8 trillion and make the transaction the largest IPO on record, Reuters said.

That structure changes the investor conversation before the roadshow is over. Instead of letting a price range move with orders, SpaceX is asking the market to decide whether one private company can absorb $75 billion of demand at a price chosen in advance.

Most US listings start with a range, then let orders and investor feedback move the deal higher or lower before the final print. SpaceX’s plan to set $135 up front puts more of that risk on the issuer. A thin book would leave the company defending a public mark.

A rush of orders would send a different message: bankers may have left less room for the first-day gain that usually rewards IPO buyers.

Morgan Stanley is managing a direct share program tied to the offering, CNBC reported Monday, with as much as 5 per cent of the stock on offer available to certain employees and friends. The allocation matters because SpaceX has long had more internal and private-market demand than public float. The IPO now has to balance employee access with institutional orders while preserving Musk’s control.

Bloomberg, citing the Reuters terms, described the deal as an all-primary offering, meaning proceeds would go to the company rather than selling shareholders. That gives SpaceX fresh capital for satellites, launches and Starship development, while public investors fund a large expansion budget at one of the highest valuations ever attached to a new listing.

Pricing risk moves up front

Record size is the point.

A $75 billion raise would be a capital-market event, not a routine technology IPO. Anthropic has filed to go public, and MarketWatch has pointed to SpaceX and OpenAI as part of the same possible blockbuster IPO calendar. A strong book could reopen the window for jumbo technology listings. A weak one would tell bankers the 2026 market has limits, even for scarce assets.

SpaceX reaches that window with operating storylines few issuers can match. Its launch business has federal and commercial demand. Starlink gives investors a recurring-revenue satellite internet asset beside the riskier Starship program. TechCrunch reported last week that SpaceX had been awarded $6.45 billion of Space Force contracts ahead of the IPO, a reminder that government work is already material to the revenue mix.

The complications are familiar to anyone who has followed the filing. Water access at Starbase in Texas, political risk around Musk, a capital-intensive Mars-linked development agenda and the valuation of Starlink all sit inside the same public-market decision. Buyers are pricing a dominant launch provider whose financing plan still depends on repeated execution.

For Morgan Stanley and the rest of the banking group, the unusual price structure compresses the sales job. They need to convince asset managers and sovereign investors that $135 a share is the number SpaceX wants and the number that can hold once the stock trades freely.

The employee program adds another signal. Setting aside as much as 5 per cent of the offered stock for employees and friends can help internal morale after years of private liquidity rounds, but it also reduces the slice available to institutions if demand exceeds supply.

For a company that has made scarcity part of its private-market appeal, that trade-off is deliberate.

The next marker is the order book. Should SpaceX price at $135 and raise $75 billion, the deal would reset the benchmark for what a late-stage technology company can extract from public markets in one shot. Investor resistance would show that even the strongest private names still have to meet a market that has become more selective about growth, control and cash burn.