SpaceX IPO - to infinity and beyond?

Elon Musk has fired the starting pistol on the Initial Public Offering (or IPO) for SpaceX and filed its prospectus with the US securities regulators. It’s expected to list on the Nasdaq

sometime in June, with Reuters suggesting 12th June (a date when Earthlings will see planetary alignment with Mercury, Venus and Jupiter, since you ask).

What’s an IPO?

An IPO simply marks the passage of a company from private ownership (you can buy or sell shares if the Board agree and negotiate a deal with the known buyer) to public ownership (it’s on an exchange

, any Tom, Dick, or Harriet can buy in, and the price is publicly available and moves up and down in relation to how much people want your shares). It’s the equivalent of going from having a valuable vase you might try to sell on a private WhatsApp group to a vase you put up for sale on eBay.

Is SpaceX worth backing? 🚀

We don’t yet have price information, but suggestions are it could be listed with a valuation of around $1.75 trillion. 😲 Musk is looking to raise around $75 billion of new money at this price. This would be the largest IPO on record (the biggest to date was Saudi Aramco in 2019, who raised $26 billion and didn’t give a toss about planets or chakras).

The money will fund AI development, asteroid mining and putting people on the Moon and Mars. I think Musk has missed a business opportunity here – one-way flights to Mars. I would pay 10x more for a one-way ticket for some people than I would for a return. My passenger list alone would fund his first few months of operations and no IPO needed! I digress.

Whether you should rush to get your hands on a slice of the action is up for debate. So far, the company has lost around $37 billion as it chews through developing the Starship mega rocket and Musk’s other AI ventures, including xAI. In 2025, they booked about $19 billion in revenue (nice!) but lost about $5 billion (ouch!). On the other hand, some of the biggest tech names today lost huge sums in the early days.

Despite the company’s name, be aware of what you’re buying into. AI technology is the biggest market for the firm and dwarves the opportunity from the Starlink internet and space operations.

How do I access it?

For those interested, one way to access SpaceX before the IPO kicks off is via a few investment trusts. These trusts own some of SpaceX, which they negotiated as private agreements.

So, for every £5 you put in Edinburgh Worldwide or Scottish Mortgage today, about £1 is invested in SpaceX.

If you prefer to wait for the IPO and buy the stock directly, various platforms will be offering it, but check yours supports US IPO subscriptions. AJ Bell’s Chief Product Officer, Charlie Musson, told me last night:

I suspect most of the bigger platforms will be offering this and we will confirm nearer the time. See what your platform says – sign up for their IPO updates, so you can keep up with the news.

A final piece of boring tax admin 🥱. If you’re not a US resident, you need to fill out a form called a W-8 Beneficiary (W-8BEN) to trade US shares. Make sure yours is up to date – or do one now to avoid last minute hoopla.

How does a company set its IPO price?

Honestly? It’s sticking a finger in the air and coming up with the highest number you can get away with. Then discounting it a smidge so it’s defensible. The alternative is to study modelling

for years, accumulate letters after your name, and do loads of sums to come up with a similar number.

SpaceX and its bankers will set a price range. They will gossip and snoop around and run their numbers, work out what people will pay and then agree a final offer price. The final decision is made by SpaceX and its lead investor, Goldman Sachs. For example, if they think it’s worth $100 a share, they might market it at $95 to attract buyers. But from the second the exchange goes live, it’s over to supply and demand. And – important note – things do not always go up! Uber’s IPO in 2019 was a bit of a car crash – the shares fell by 7% on the first day. So, there are no guarantees.

Should I buy SpaceX?

The trillion-dollar question. My hunch? I would imagine the IPO will go off with a bang, UNLESS stock markets have a serious wobble beforehand. Momentum and greed are powerful short-term forces. Approach with caution and don’t be greedy.

Is it over-priced? Yes! Because SpaceX is not yet listed, today’s private owners have to assume a valuation. Scottish Mortgage has confirmed that its SpaceX holding is priced below the rumoured IPO price. Using their best guesstimate – all anyone can do – they have estimated the company is worth $1.25 trillion (lower than the rumoured $1.75 trillion launch price). Which still sounds crackers for a company which has just lost $4 billion in three months, but hey ho, what do I know?!

However, if on the day of the launch it’s valued at $1.75 trillion, then BANG, the value of your holding inside the Scottish Mortgage fund will rocket up. Because it’s not their $1.25 trillion guess anymore, it’s the actual live price on the board. For balance, I’ll say that this could, of course, go the other way and crash back down to Earth.

A final note. You might entirely disregard the numbers and work on the “Greater Fool Than I” theory. This is simply that there is a fool in the wings willing to pay you more than you paid to take an asset off your hands. I think this fuelled most crypto growth a few years ago.

My plan? I’ve held Scottish Mortgage for about 15 years now. So that’s me done for SpaceX. I will also end up owning it in my passive global trackers

, so I have enough of Mr Musk in my life. Nearer the time, we’ll keep you posted as to which UK platforms are offering access to this IPO.

Have a great weekend, everyone. The sun is shining, a certain team won a certain league (there’s a Tottenham supporter in the house too, which makes for interesting times!) and the Chancellor has given hard-working Brits a huge tax break by capping VAT on a visit to Alton Towers. My cup floweth over.

Holly