Musk aims to raise SpaceX to 1.8 trillion with IPO

BarcelonaElon Musk seeks to break down the doors of Wall Street. In an update to the IPO prospectus of his technology giant, SpaceX, the world's richest man has specified that it will issue 555 million shares at a unit price of $135. In this way, Musk's space and artificial intelligence flagship seeks to add about $75 billion to its capital, an amount that would consolidate it as the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history, surpassing that of the oil company Saudi Aramco in 2019, which raised just over $29 billion.

The offer could climb to $86.25 billion, as the various entities acting as underwriters of the operation could sell about 83 million additional shares for this value. SpaceX's market debut ceiling, therefore, would be around $1.8 trillion, slightly above the minimum valuation of $1.75 trillion that Musk had proposed in the initial prospectus.

With this operation, the South African tycoon would have full control of the technology company: according to the document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US stock market regulator, the world's richest man would be the holder of more than 82% of class A shares, which grant political power over the company, and nearly 92% of class B shares, purely financial instruments.

SpaceX, therefore, would confirm itself as a "controlled company" and would be exempt from corporate best practice obligations, such as filling most of the board of directors' seats with independents or establishing remuneration or appointment committees outside the umbrella of the company's highest body.

The AI race

Although it began as a company dedicated to the aerospace sector, famous for its launchers and global connectivity satellites, SpaceX has become Musk's vehicle in the race for artificial intelligence. Last February, the company integrated xAI, the firm under which Grok operates, the chatbot of the social network X that competes with ChatGPT and Claude. Thus, the South African's will be the first artificial intelligence startup to go to the open market, paving the way for OpenAI and Anthropic to launch their own mega-operations, which will likely also place them among the most valuable companies in New York.

Anthropic, it should be remembered, presented its initial public offering on Monday, albeit confidentially, only before the regulator. However, the market expects the final valuation of Claude's creator to exceed one trillion dollars. SpaceX's IPO, however, will be the first thermometer of investor appetite for these brands, and will define the attitude of capital towards the rest of the competitors.