SpaceX lists on Nasdaq, raising a record $75 billion in IPO

2026-06-12

SpaceX Lists on Nasdaq in Record IPO

U.S. SpaceX made its debut on the Nasdaq market on the 12th. As of 9:50 a.m. U.S. Eastern time, the stock had yet to open. The company raised $75 billion from the offering, topping the $29 billion raised by Saudi state oil company Saudi Aramco in its 2019 listing and marking the biggest IPO ever worldwide.

Investor demand surges

Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in a speech at the company’s headquarters in Starbase, Texas, in the southern United States: 'If no new companies enter space, we will never truly become a civilization that ventures into space.'

SpaceX was founded in 2002. It cut launch costs by commercializing reusable rockets and broke into space development, long led by governments, as a private company. In recent years, its low-Earth-orbit satellite communications service Starlink has become its main revenue driver, and it has expanded into a conglomerate spanning rocket launches, satellite communications and artificial intelligence development.

Record investor demand was seen. Reuters reported that subscriptions came close to four times the amount on offer. The Wall Street Journal said BlackRock, one of the largest U.S. asset managers, placed orders worth at least $5 billion. Buying by retail investors and others who could not secure enough shares in the IPO could support supply and demand after the listing.

Index inclusion could fuel buying

Nasdaq has set rules shortening the period before inclusion to about 15 trading days after listing, allowing large IPO stocks to be added early to the Nasdaq 100. If included, exchange-traded funds and mutual funds that track the index would need to buy SpaceX shares.

The stock could also be added early to the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI). That is the benchmark tracked by the investment trust widely known in Japan as 'Orkan', popular under the new Nippon Individual Savings Account tax-free investment program. If included, many retail investors in Japan would indirectly hold shares in the company.

U.S. brokerage Oppenheimer was among the first major brokerages to begin coverage of SpaceX. It has a price target of $190, more than 40% above the offering price. It sees Starlink as the near-term revenue source, while AI business will drive growth in the future.

Bullish view on space business

What lifted the market valuation was expectations for the largely untapped space market and confidence in Musk, who spearheaded a mass-production revolution at Tesla. He has laid out visions ranging from humanity’s migration to Mars and the expansion of space transport networks to satellite-based communications networks and even running AI in space data centers.

Still, expectations remain the dominant theme. Starship is still under development, and AI is yet to make a meaningful contribution to earnings. Revenue for the year ended December 2025 was $18.6 billion, while the final result was a net loss of $4.9 billion. Based on that, the price-to-sales ratio was in the mid-90s, an unusually high level.

Criticism over governance remains strong. SpaceX uses a multi-class share structure, allowing Musk to retain strong control even after the listing.

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