(March 26): SpaceX is considering a fundraising target in its initial public offering (IPO) that would dwarf the previous largest ever debut, according to people familiar with the matter, as billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker moves forward with listing plans.
The company is weighing a ballpark figure of about US$75 billion ($96.21 billion) in its IPO, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. SpaceX has discussed with potential investors the prospect of raising more than US$70 billion, some of the people said.
Either figure would be far above the US$50 billion target Bloomberg News has previously reported, and more than double the largest ever IPO, Saudi Aramco’s US$29 billion listing in 2019.
SpaceX continues to seek a market debut in June, though the timing could still shift, some of the people said. The company could file its IPO paperwork confidentially as soon as this month, Bloomberg News reported in February.
The Information earlier reported the higher fundraising target. Preparations for a confidential filing are ongoing and SpaceX could still decide to change the plan, the people said. A representative of SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comments.
SpaceX could seek a valuation in the IPO of more than US$1.75 trillion, people familiar with the matter have said. It acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence start-up xAI in a deal that valued the enlarged entity at US$1.25 trillion, Bloomberg News has reported.
See also: SK Hynix to float US shares this year to feed AI memory boom
At a US$1.75 trillion market value, SpaceX would be bigger than all but five of the companies in the S&P 500 Index — Nvidia Corp, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc. It would be larger by that metric than Meta Platforms Inc, as well as Musk’s own Tesla Inc.
Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee
