SpaceX Soars to $2.2 Trillion Valuation as IPO Surges 25% in Historic Nasdaq Debut
SpaceX launched its initial public offering on June 12, 2026, at $135 per share and shot up 25% to $168.75 in its first hours of trading on Nasdaq under ticker SPCX, raising $75 billion in the largest IPO ever and briefly valuing the company at $2.2 trillion—making Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire.
The Record-Breaking IPO
Shares of Elon Musk's rocket company began trading publicly Friday on the Nasdaq stock exchange, raising $75 billion for the company in the largest initial public offering ever. The company set shares at $135 per share and is selling more than 555 million shares, targeting a $1.77 trillion valuation. The stock's session high reached $168.75, up 25% from the $135 IPO price, and at that high, SpaceX's market cap reached about $2.21 trillion—putting it within striking distance of Amazon's roughly $2.54 trillion valuation.
Massive Investor Demand and Retail Participation
SpaceX's initial public offering attracted massive investor interest, with orders reportedly exceeding available shares by multiples and totaling well over $10 billion from institutional and sovereign wealth funds. The IPO benefited from a diversified order book, with Nasdaq President Nelson Griggs estimating that roughly $15 billion of the raise came from retail investors, calling that allocation "larger than most IPOs" and saying Tesla's heavily retail-owned shareholder base likely helped drive excitement around the SpaceX debut.
The Larger Implications
SpaceX is the first of what is expected to be many major IPOs related to AI, with Anthropic and OpenAI also readying public offerings, but questions remain about just how profitable these companies will be in what is already an expensive and increasingly competitive business. Goldman Sachs President John Waldron called SpaceX "a sign that there's an appetite to fund the artificial intelligence boom," saying it "shows you that the capital markets—led by the U.S. capital markets, but the global capital markets—are demonstrating a willingness to finance this AI infrastructure build and this build in space." Alphabet may be one of the biggest hidden winners in the SpaceX IPO, owning roughly 4.9% of SpaceX, a stake now worth about $105 billion—making it one of Google's most lucrative private market bets ever.
Valuation Debate Ahead
While the market enthusiasm is undeniable, skepticism persists about the sky-high price tag. Analysts at Morningstar wrote that they believe the company is "overvalued" given its financials, and the company has yet to generate a profit and produced roughly $19 billion in revenue last year.