Opinion
Elon Musk has kicked off the process for the largest initial public offering in history, but is SpaceX really worth $2.5 trillion?
A confidential filing for the float of Musk’s rocket company (which also incorporates his xAI artificial intelligence start-up and the X social media platform) was lodged with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX vision comes with a lot of question marks. AP While financial details won’t be known until a public prospectus is released, probably mid-year, there are reports that Musk is seeking to raise $US75 billion ($108.7 billion) at a valuation of $US1.75 trillion ($2.5 trillion), with speculation in recent days that it could stretch to $US2 trillion.
That would make SpaceX more valuable than Tesla, which has a market capitalisation of about $US1.32 trillion, or Meta Platforms (Facebook’s parent), which is valued at about $US1.45 trillion. It would become the sixth-largest US company by market value, behind Amazon ($US2.3 trillion).
A $US75 billion raising would also dwarf the previous record capital-raising by Saudi Aramco, which raised $US29 billion in 2019.
Even at $US1.75 trillion, the valuation of SpaceX would appear to be rising at an eyebrow-raising rate.
Just over a year ago, the company raised funds at a valuation of just over $US350 billion. In December last year, a secondary sale of its shares valued it at about $US800 billion, with reports that it would float this year with a similar valuation.
Last month, Musk merged xAI, which had previously merged with his social media entity, X, with SpaceX.
The merger of xAI and X (which were valued at $US230 billion in a $US20 billion equity-r
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