SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, has announced plans to go public in the US, potentially marking one of the largest Initial Public Offering (IPO) in Wall Street history.
The company, known for its rockets, Starlink satellite internet service, and links to AI firm xAI, is expected to list under the ticker SPCX as early as next month.
Valued at around $1.25 trillion, the IPO could further boost Musk’s wealth, with his stake potentially exceeding $600 billion.
Musk, who leads Tesla, became the first person to surpass a $500 billion net worth last year, and a SpaceX IPO could push him past $1 trillion.
Financial disclosures show SpaceX earned $18.6 billion in revenue last year but posted a $4.9 billion loss. In the first quarter of this year, it generated $4.7 billion in sales while reporting a $4.3 billion loss.
The company holds about $102 billion in assets but also carries $60.5 billion in debt.
Ruth Foxe-Blader of Citrine Venture Partners said it is not unusual for a project like SpaceX to be loss-making at the IPO stage, calling the planned listing “extremely exciting” given its scale and future potential.
The company has flagged over $500 million in potential legal costs from multiple lawsuits, including claims linked to xAI’s Grok chatbot and disputes over patents, copyright, and data issues.
Elon Musk plans to integrate his AI work into SpaceX, which also owns X, alongside a $15 billion annual data centre deal with Anthropic.
The filing comes amid strong performance in SpaceX’s rocket and Starlink businesses, alongside legal setbacks in Musk’s dispute with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, as well as ongoing scrutiny over safety and other issues.
Indian-American investor behind early SpaceX bet
When SpaceX goes public in its much-anticipated IPO, attention is expected to centre on Elon Musk, but filings also highlight a major potential winner, Chicago-based investor Antonio Gracias.
The founder of Valor Equity Partners could see a paper fortune of about $128 billion if SpaceX reaches a projected $2 trillion valuation, according to S-1 filings.
Known for staying out of the spotlight, Gracias backed Musk’s companies during difficult early periods. He is the son of an Indian-origin neurosurgeon who moved from Goa to the US, while his mother worked as a pharmacist.
Raised in a family that valued discipline and education, Antonio Gracias studied international finance at Georgetown University, spent time at Waseda University in Tokyo, and later earned a law degree from the University of Chicago.
While still in law school in 1995, he founded MG Capital, which eventually grew into Valor Equity Partners, now managing over $17 billion in assets.
He became an early investor in SpaceX and Tesla in 2008, when both firms were close to running out of money amid rocket failures and the global financial crisis.
At the time, many investors avoided private space ventures, seeing them as too risky. However, Antonio Gracias took a different view, joining SpaceX’s board and helping provide early funding through Valor Equity Partners. This support helped SpaceX continue operations until its fourth Falcon 1 launch in September 2008, which succeeded and marked a turning point for the company.
