Topline
Retail traders have submitted orders for more than $100 billion in SpaceX shares, Bloomberg reported on Friday, likely shattering investor demand records in the highly anticipated trading debut for Elon Musk’s firm.
Timeline
everything elizabeth warren said in her letter about spacex’s ipo
“The massive size of the SpaceX IPO alone, under normal circumstances, would justify careful SEC review and attention to investor needs. But these are not normal circumstances: a number of additional factors exacerbate concerns and require action by the SEC to meet its investor protection and market integrity mandates by delaying the IPO.
“Before the company is allowed to go public, the SEC must investigate whether index funds and other financial entities involved in SpaceX’s IPO are adequately protecting investors, and the company must fill disclosure gaps related to valuation, ensure risks and details related to its concentrated governance structure are clear to investors, and abandon mandatory arbitration to provide shareholders whose rights are otherwise gutted in this structure a minimum avenue for recourse.
“[Market] analysts have raised concerns about the math underlying SpaceX’s target valuation, calling it ‘nonsensical,’ ‘smoke-and-mirrors accounting,’ and ‘truly out of this world.’
“Publicly traded companies are meant to be accountable to their shareholders. The SpaceX IPO will flip this model on its head, with shareholders providing billions of dollars in new capital with no accountability measures for Mr. Musk or company leadership, as the company ‘[combines] supervoting shares, mandatory arbitration, stricter rules on shareholder proposals and Texas corporate law to give control to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and other insiders.’
“[The] SpaceX IPO creates a new concern: that major stock market indexes are being rigged in a way that would force millions of investors in passive index funds – a generally lower-cost investment option that can be attractive to retail investors – to invest in SpaceX and face exposure to SpaceX’s significant risks with no choice in the matter.”
when will spacex go public?
SpaceX is expected to debut on Friday. The company said a final IPO price would be set on Thursday, noting this could shift based on investor demand and other market conditions.
where can traders invest in spacex’s ipo?
Allocated shares for retail investors will be made available through Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood, SoFi Technologies and Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade, SpaceX disclosed to the SEC. Fidelity lowered its minimum of $100,000 in brokerage accounts for IPO access to just $2,000, expanding access for customers to invest in the IPO. The brokerage said customers can alert Fidelity of interest in purchasing a minimum of a single share, up to a maximum of 1 million. Schwab requires a brokerage account balance of at least $100,000 to invest in an IPO, and neither Robinhood, SoFi nor E*Trade states a minimum account balance is required.
spacex’s ipo may be overvalued, analysts warn
Morningstar analysts, in a note earlier this week, projected SpaceX to trade at $63 per share, roughly half of its intended price. The analysts argued SpaceX’s Starlink revenue could realistically hit $129 billion, not the combined $1.6 trillion SpaceX projected from Starlink’s mobile and broadband businesses, and that a disconnect between “hype and fundamentals” indicates traders should wait to invest after the initial offering. “Big Short” investor Michael Burry wrote earlier this month there was “nothing” in SpaceX’s IPO filing to suggest the company is worth $1 trillion, “let alone $2 trillion.” Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida, told Forbes that SpaceX’s stock will likely be influenced by the “Elon Musk effect,” as broader hype surrounding its CEO will boost the IPO and then fuel long-term volatility.
what do we know about spacex’s finances?
SpaceX disclosed a net loss of $4.28 billion through its latest quarter after losing $4.94 billion in 2025. About 69% of the company’s quarterly revenue came from Starlink, which brought in $4.69 billion. SpaceX’s connectivity arm, which includes Starlink, is the only profitable part of the company after its space unit lost $619 million and its AI arm lost $2.5 billion. Capital expenditures totaled $10.1 billion in the quarter, more than doubling from the previous year, with a majority of spending ($7.7 billion) coming from AI. SpaceX spent just over $1 billion for its space business and $1.3 billion for its connectivity business. Last year, SpaceX spent $12.7 billion on AI, compared to $3.8 billion on space.
will musk immediately become a trillionaire?
Musk, who holds a 42% stake in SpaceX, is expected to become a trillionaire should shares trade at the projected $135, valuing his combined shares and options at $688 billion, according to Forbes’ estimates. Musk has ranked as the world’s richest person since May 2024, and his fortune is valued at $788 billion as of Wednesday.
spacex’s ipo could swell these fortunes
SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, who joined the company in 2002 and holds roughly 12 million shares, has an estimated stake worth $1.2 billion. That could increase to $1.6 billion, should SpaceX debut at $135 per share. SpaceX chief financial officer Bret Johnson’s stake, valued at $700 million, could make him a billionaire with a fortune estimated at $1.2 billion at the projected debut share price. Billionaire Valor Equity Partners founder Antonio Gracias, who holds more than 503 million SpaceX shares, could have his $4.8 billion net worth surge by nearly $68 billion. Board member Luke Nosek, a co-founder of PayPal and venture capital firms Founders Fund and Gigafund, was revealed to be a billionaire in SpaceX’s IPO filing. His estimated $2.7 billion stake, totaling nearly 33 million shares, could jump to $4.4 billion.
further reading
ForbesInvestor Demand For SpaceX IPO Tops $250 Billion, Report Says
