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SpaceX took the wraps off its IPO filing on Wednesday, opening the books for a company that has already revolutionized rocket technology, with even bigger ambitions to colonize Mars and build AI data centers in space.
The listing is poised to become the US's first multi-billion dollar IPO and could set the stage for a number of large IPOs in the coming months, among them tech giants OpenAI and Anthropic.
The sale would quickly cement SpaceX as one of the world's most valuable publicly traded companies, the second in Elon Musk's growing business empire to surpass $1 trillion US in market value.
The filing confirmed a series of recent Reuters reports about the IPO.
SpaceX has grown into the world's largest space enterprise since its founding in 2002 by launching thousands of Starlink Internet satellites. Its pioneering use of reusable rockets has transformed the local economy, forcing rivals like Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to play catch-up.
Starlink provided net income last year
Although SpaceX made its name by building rockets and launching satellites into space, most of its $18.67 billion in revenue last year came from its Starlink satellite internet business and much of its future growth depends on businesses related to artificial intelligence. Its fledgling xAI unit is still losing money, according to the filing.
A successful sale could bring the company to a record $1.75 trillion US, which would put its founder on the verge of becoming the first trillionaire in history.
The disclosure of the company's rules comes amid a critical week for the rocket maker, which is preparing to launch the next-generation Starship rocket test flight.
Musk's plans for lunar and Mars missions and expanding his Starlink satellite internet business depend on the new rocket.
The launch of the test, which was scheduled for Tuesday, is now expected later this week.
With nearly ten thousand Starlink satellites in orbit, Elon Musk's SpaceX is leading the new space race. But as more players rush to launch megaconstellations of their own satellites, scientists are raising the alarm about the growing dangers of having so many in orbit – and what happens when they descend back to Earth. As Darius Mahdavi reports, the death toll from falling space debris has risen dramatically, as experts find new ways to track reentry.
The board gave Musk control of the company, but tied a large part of his compensation to the ambitious goals of establishing a permanent human colony on Mars and building space data centers with a computing capacity equivalent to 100 terawatts, or 100,000 gigawatt one-gigawatt nuclear reactors, Reuters previously reported.
Musk will retain 85.1 percent of the company's combined voting power, the filing showed.
SpaceX intends to list its shares as early as June 12, with the launch of a road show targeted for June 4 and a share sale expected as early as June 11, Reuters reported last week.
