Axios: Musk’s monster IPO

Posted on March 30, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
Musk’s monster IPO
 
Animated illustration of a stock ticker screen with pixelated rocket emojis moving across it from right to left.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
 
SpaceX is preparing to launch the largest IPO of all time — with expectations that it could raise more than all U.S. listings in 2024 and 2025 combined, Axios Pro Rata author Dan Primack writes.

Why it matters: Wall Street is understandably giddy. But what it’s about to pitch investors is unprecedented, and could impact how (or if) other AI giants go public later this year.
Here are four ways this IPO is different from all others:📈 

1. Size: SpaceX reportedly wants to raise around $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation.

For context, the entire U.S. IPO market only raised more money in two of the past 10 years.

It’ll also seek to become the first company to ever go public at a valuation of $1 trillion or more, with hopes of immediately being worth more than Walmart, Exxon Mobil or Meta.

Finally, Musk is said to be reserving up to 30% of the offering for individual investors — three times the norm. 

2. Big unknowns: SpaceX has been around for decades, but the version going public is a newly formed conglomerate.

Elon Musk recently merged xAI into SpaceX, after having previously merged X into xAI (whose 11 cofounders have all left).

No one really knows if the combinations will work, and it’s too early for there to be much evidence in either direction. Let alone if SpaceX’s plan for 1 million orbital data centers — which seems to be Musk’s grand vision — is viable.🚀 

3. X factor: Elon Musk himself. And not just the part about him seeking to simultaneously run two of the world’s most valuable companies.

Musk hasn’t been part of an IPO since Tesla in 2010. At the time, he was fairly quiet on social media. In fact, his first-ever tweet was just a couple of weeks earlier.

Today’s Musk may struggle to comply with rules about what company insiders can and can’t say once the IPO process begins.

On the other hand, the current Securities & Exchange Commission is lax when it comes to enforcement, and Musk is (usually) friendly with the boss’s boss.💰 

4. Red ink: We don’t yet know SpaceX’s overall financials, and its initial IPO filing is likely to be confidential.

What we’re fairly certain of, however, is that its xAI unit is hemorrhaging money — just like other large foundation models that are scaling by spending on GPUs.

Investors may not care, believing all things AI are up and to the right. But this would be the first major market test.Share this story … Get Axios Pro Rata, Primack’s daily dealmaker newsletter.
  
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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