SpaceX’s market debut has rewritten the record books, turbocharging a frothy AI‑driven IPO cycle while concentrating unprecedented wealth and power in the hands of Elon Musk.

On June 11, SpaceX confirmed it had sold 555.6 million shares at a fixed price of $135, raising $75 billion and securing the “largest IPO in history,” eclipsing Saudi Aramco’s 2019 listing.¹ The rockets‑to‑AI conglomerate listed on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, a bold, take‑it‑or‑leave‑it pricing strategy honed in investor meetings that began back in January with lead banker Goldman Sachs.²

Trading began June 12, with SPCX opening at $150 — an 11% pop over the IPO price — and spiking as high as $167 before settling near $161 by the close.³ That first day valued SpaceX at roughly $2.1 trillion and was enough to make Musk the world’s first trillionaire on paper, according to multiple outlets tracking his combined SpaceX and Tesla stakes.⁴⁵ Nasdaq later noted that SpaceX ultimately raised $85.7 billion and traded more than 500 million shares on day one.Elon Musk (elonmusk)⁶

Retail enthusiasm was extraordinary. TechCrunch reported that Robinhood saw “record-breaking” traffic as SpaceX shares began trading, with only about 4% of total shares actually available — a setup for sharp price swings.⁷ One analyst described more than $70 billion in retail orders alone as “absolutely insane,” a post Musk amplified on X.Elon Musk (elonmusk)⁸

By June 15–16, SpaceX stock had gained for a second consecutive session,⁹ pushing the company’s valuation past $2.7 trillion and briefly overtaking Amazon to become the world’s fifth‑most‑valuable public company — despite SpaceX losing $4.9 billion on $18.7 billion in 2025 revenue.¹⁰

Banks and bullish investors frame the IPO as a bet on a “sci‑fi” AI‑from‑orbit strategy and SpaceX’s role at the center of a new MANGOS‑era market dominated by AI and deep‑tech giants.¹¹¹² Axios and others say the smooth launch is already a template for Anthropic and OpenAI’s planned flotations.²¹³

Skeptics, however, point to towering losses, a tiny free float, and Musk’s more than 80% voting control as signs that public investors are paying trillions for concentrated, personality‑driven risk.¹⁴¹⁵ As Ars Technica put it, there is “broad disagreement” over whether SpaceX is “fool’s gold” or a once‑in‑a‑generation chance to own a dominant space and AI platform.¹⁶