SpaceX pulled off the largest initial public offering in history, raising $75 billion and temporarily pushing the company’s market capitalization past $2 trillion. A rocket company is now worth more than most countries’ GDP.
The shares were priced at $135 each and debuted on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX on June 12. By the close of its first trading day, the stock had surged 19% to $160.95, briefly pushing SpaceX’s market cap to roughly $2.21 trillion at its intraday peak. The initial pricing valued the company at approximately $1.77 trillion based on around 13.08 billion shares outstanding.
The numbers behind the record
To put the $75 billion raise in context: Saudi Aramco’s 2019 IPO was the previous record holder.
The underwriting syndicate, led by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, collectively earned approximately $500 million in fees. The gross spread came in under 0.75%, which is a record low for a deal this size. Each of the two lead banks is expected to pocket around $100 million.
In a typical IPO, underwriters charge between 3% and 7% of the total raise. Even large-cap offerings usually see spreads of 1% to 3%.
A trillionaire and a money-losing company
The post-IPO surge temporarily made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire on paper.
SpaceX reported annual revenue of approximately $10 billion heading into the offering, driven primarily by its Starlink satellite internet business. The company also posted a net loss of $4.9 billion in the prior year. At a $1.77 trillion initial valuation against $10 billion in revenue, SpaceX debuted at roughly 177 times sales.