Elon Musk eyes Wall Street record with SpaceX IPO

Elon Musk's SpaceX has filed plans for what could become the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history as the company seeks to raise up to $75 billion (€64 billion) on the public markets.

If successful, the listing of the rocket and satellite giant would dwarf any IPO in history and cement Mr Musk's status as one of the most consequential entrepreneurs of his generation.

After the IPO, the filing revealed Mr Musk would be the CEO, CTO and chair of the board.

US media reports said SpaceX is hoping to raise $75 billion and win a valuation of as much as $1.75 trillion when it begins trading as early as next month.

The filing of the S-1 prospectus - a document companies are required to present to the SEC before listing on a public stock exchange, providing potential investors with detailed financial information, possible risks and business strategy - marked the first time SpaceX has publicly disclosed detailed financials in its 24-year history.

It revealed that the company generated $18.7 billion in revenue in 2025 and posted an operating loss of $2.6 billion as it put money into next generation rocket development and artificial intelligence.

SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet business is the clear financial engine of the company, generating $11.4 billion in revenue in 2025, up nearly 50% year-on-year.

The AI segment, which includes xAI and the social media platform X, recorded $3.2 billion in revenue for the full year 2025 but posted an operating loss of $6.4 billion as the company raced to build out AI training data centres.

Capital expenditure for the segment alone reached $12.7 billion in 2025 and $7.7 billion in just the first quarter of 2026 - reflecting the enormous sums necessary to keep pace in the AI race against rivals including Google, Meta and Amazon.

SpaceX also disclosed it had struck a deal to rent out spare capacity at its COLOSSUS and COLOSSUS II data centres to rival AI firm Anthropic for $1.25 billion per month through May 2029.

The filing comes just days after Mr Musk suffered a significant legal setback in his dispute with OpenAI, a direct competitor also heading towards a public listing.

A US jury ruled against Mr Musk, finding OpenAI not liable to the world's richest person for having allegedly strayed from its original mission to benefit humanity.

In a unanimous verdict, the jury in Oakland, California, federal court said Mr Musk had brought his case too late.

With Anthropic eyeing its own IPO, 2026 could prove one of the most momentous years on Wall Street in recent memory.

The filing confirmed a dual-class share structure that will leave Mr Musk firmly in control of the company after the listing, sidestepping the kind of governance fights that have dogged him at Tesla, where shareholders have repeatedly taken aim at his compensation and the board's independence.

Mr Musk, the world's richest person, is set to control about 85% of voting power while holding around 42% of equity.

SpaceX acknowledged the arrangement poses risks for outside investors, noting that Mr Musk "will have the power to control the outcome of matters requiring shareholder approval, including election of all our directors".

The filing also laid out an ambitious roadmap to build data centres in space, arguing that solar energy captured in orbit represents "the only truly scalable solution" to the soaring power demands of AI computing.

SpaceX said it plans to begin deploying AI computer satellites as early as 2028, with the long-term goal of putting 100 gigawatts of compute capacity in orbit annually.

This is a task that requires thousands of rocket launches per year and the transport of roughly one million metric tons of payload to orbit.

The company said it was uniquely positioned to meet that challenge, calling it "incredibly difficult" and one no other company could tackle at commercial scale.

However, US government officials will need to see improved reliability ⁠before approving such an expansion, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration said.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said he met SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who told him about the company's ambitious goal.

SpaceX conducted 170 launches in 2025 deploying about 2,500 satellites.

Mr Bedford said Ms Shotwell told him "about the SpaceX five-year vision to get to 10,000 launches a year".

Mr Bedford said after a ⁠forum that the FAA would need to see greater reliability before approving such a goal.

"We need to see a lot more reliability," Mr Bedford told reporters after the forum.

The FAA licenses all commercial space launches and takes steps to streamline key hurdles.

It imposes restrictions to ensure launches or space accidents do not interfere with passenger air traffic.

In a staggering figure, SpaceX claimed a total addressable market - a company's estimate of the maximum revenue opportunity available for its products and services - of $28.5 trillion across its businesses, excluding China and Russia.

Reports indicate SpaceX is targeting a June listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol SPCX, with trading expected to commence shortly thereafter.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives predicted in a note the next step after the IPO, would be a merger with Tesla, creating an AI powered "holy grail."