SpaceX targets blockbuster $50B IPO

SpaceX is planning to go public in mid-June, with Elon Musk choosing the date to match up with an unusual sky event and his own birthday, according to five sources close to the matter. The rocket company wants to time its stock market debut with a rare planetary alignment when Jupiter and Venus will appear extremely close together for the first time in over three years.

The company hopes to bring in up to $50 billion through the offering, which would put its total worth at around $1.5 trillion. If successful, this would break records as the biggest initial public offering ever seen, easily beating the $29 billion that Saudi Aramco raised back in 2019. However, sources warn these numbers could still change before any final decisions are made.

Planetary alignment and personal significance

The Financial Times reported last week that SpaceX has selected Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley to handle the major deal.

During June 8 and 9, Jupiter and Venus will sit “within a little more than 1 degree of each other in the sky, about the width of a thumb held at arm’s length,” The Planetary Society explained. Mercury will join them in a diagonal line several days afterward.

Musk’s birthday falls on June 28, giving him another reason to pick that month for the listing, the sources said.

This unusual scheduling shows how much Musk personally shapes SpaceX’s big decisions. The billionaire’s own views and interests often guide the company’s direction, from setting aggressive production goals to using management styles that break from tradition.

Musk has made jokes about business choices before. Back in 2018, he posted on social media about taking Tesla private at $420 per share. Many people thought the number referred to April 20, a date linked to marijuana culture.

More recently, after arguing online about Ryanair purchasing Starlink internet service for its aircraft, Musk said this month he might buy the low-cost airline and replace its boss Michael O’Leary with someone named Ryan.

Concerns over timeline and funding goals

Not everyone thinks a June launch makes sense. Some bankers and investors say the schedule seems too rushed. They point out that SpaceX still needs to submit a Form S-1 document to the Securities and Exchange Commission announcing its plan to list shares. The company also needs to organize a worldwide roadshow to pitch the stock to potential buyers.

Market conditions add more uncertainty. President Donald Trump keeps threatening new tariffs and trying to influence Federal Reserve decisions on interest rates, making it harder to predict how investors will respond, these sources noted.

Bret Johnsen, who serves as chief financial officer, has been meeting and video calling with current private investors since mid-December to discuss a possible mid-2026 public offering.

Both large institutions and regular individual investors are expected to show strong interest in buying SpaceX shares. These groups have not been able to purchase stock before because the company stayed private.

Musk wants to take SpaceX public partly because the company needs more money to build its Starship rocket system, which aims to reach Mars, some sources explained.

SpaceX has told investors it is working on technology to set up data centers in space. These would connect through its network of 9,400 Starlink satellites. Musk thinks this capability is necessary if his group of companies wants to compete in artificial intelligence against rivals like Google and OpenAI.

In December, the rocket company discussed a private share sale that would have valued it at $800 billion. This represented more than double its earlier value of nearly $400 billion.

Last year, SpaceX put $2 billion into xAI, another business owned by Musk. He combined xAI with social media platform X in March. The billionaire has also mentioned wanting his electric car company Tesla to invest money in xAI.

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