A corporate value of about 2,700 trillion won, a listing size of 114 trillion won marking an all-time record, and even the birth of humanity's first "trillionaire."
SpaceX, which has drawn the attention of global capital markets, left behind monumental numbers upon its listing on the U.S. Nasdaq. Not only large Wall Street institutional investors but also individual investors in Japan, Europe, Australia, and Canada rushed to SpaceX. Having made a spectacular debut on the stock market, SpaceX now faces the task of proving itself through earnings and share price.
SpaceX finalized its initial public offering (IPO) price at $135 per share through an official statement Tuesday. Accordingly, SpaceX is set to raise $75 billion by selling 555.56 million Class A common shares. The figure surpasses by more than double the previous record of $29.4 billion set by Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Aramco in 2019, claiming the title of the largest IPO ever. If lead managers such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley exercise additional options (about 83 million shares), the amount raised will increase to $86 billion (about 130.7630 trillion won). Based on the offering price, SpaceX's corporate value is $1.77 trillion (about 2,693.0550 trillion won). It is expected to enter the top 10 global listed companies upon listing.
The "war of money" to grab the biggest global IPO was correspondingly fierce. According to SpaceX's disclosure materials, 85% of the 5,505,555,555 offering shares were allocated to five investment banks (IBs) including lead underwriters Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Based on this volume, they are expected to offer institutional investors such as asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and family offices the opportunity to buy first. However, unlike typical cases, SpaceX allocates 30% of the volume to individual investors, so competition among institutional investors is expected to be even fiercer.
According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), BlackRock, the largest U.S. asset manager, placed a buy order of at least $5 billion (about 7.6045 trillion won) in the SpaceX offering subscription that closed the previous day. The WSJ reported that including other asset managers, the order size reached an "eye-popping" level in the trillions of won. Orders poured in not only from overseas sovereign wealth funds but also from family offices managing the funds of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, with some family offices placing orders exceeding $1 billion (about 1.52 trillion won). Individuals also jumped in. In Japan, the only place in Asia where SpaceX conducted a public subscription for individuals, up to $2.5 billion (about 3.8 trillion won) was gathered.
Elon Musk, the CEO leading SpaceX, will set a remarkable record as the world's first "trillionaire" with a net worth exceeding $1 trillion. In February this year, SpaceX acquired Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI (which owns the social media platform X). Musk also runs the electric vehicle company Tesla, among others. As SpaceX's largest shareholder, founder, and CEO, Musk will retain 84% of voting rights after the listing through dual-class voting shares and other means. His stake in SpaceX exceeds $860 billion based on the offering price.
SpaceX, which entered the stock market with such fanfare, will now face market scrutiny. Wall Street expects SpaceX's share price to rise to an average of around $160 after listing. Oppenheimer, a major U.S. brokerage, issued an investment opinion that SpaceX would surge more than 40% to $190 compared with the offering price of $135.
However, the overvaluation controversy persists. Asset evaluation firm Morningstar earlier assessed SpaceX's fair value at $780 billion, citing excessive uncertainty in the space data center business SpaceX is pursuing. This is less than half the currently set corporate value of $1.77 trillion.
The task of boosting earnings also remains. According to the IPO registration statement SpaceX submitted, it posted a loss of more than $4.9 billion last year. It swung to a loss from a $791 million profit in 2024. However, revenue rose 33% from the previous year to $18.7 billion. Michael Burry, the hedge fund investor who became famous for predicting the 2008 financial crisis, offered a pessimistic view that SpaceX's corporate value is inflated, saying "some investors are dreaming impossible dreams." Jim Chanos, founder of investment firm Chanos & Company, who foresaw the Enron accounting fraud, also raised questions about SpaceX's internal substance. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the 9th of this month asking whether it had reviewed the basis for SpaceX's business claims and financial projections, arguing it "could be the most manipulated IPO in American history."
