SpaceX makes history with $75 billion IPO as Musk becomes first trillionaire

Elon Musk is now the first trillionaire in history. His company SpaceX starts trading on the Nasdaq today after investors poured $75 billion into the biggest initial public offering the world has ever seen.

The IPO priced at $135 per share, with 555.56 million shares sold. That values SpaceX at $1.77 trillion — making it the seventh-largest US company by market cap. The proceeds more than double Saudi Aramco's previous record of $29.4 billion from 2019.

Here's the catch: SpaceX lost nearly $5 billion last year. Its revenue is tiny compared to other trillion-dollar tech giants. So why are investors throwing money at it?

"Investors will spend years debating whether the IPO price was too high or too low. I expect a lot of volatility in the next few months," said Mike Alves, founder of VIDA Vision Fund, an investor in SpaceX.

SpaceX says its total market opportunity is $28.5 trillion — which it calls "the largest in human history." The company dominates space launches, handling more than 80% of all mass sent into orbit over the past three years. Its Starlink satellite internet business is already generating revenue.

"Elon jokes that we make the impossible, we just make it late," SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell told CNBC.

The IPO tests what some call the "Musk premium" — the idea that Musk's vision and execution justify sky-high valuations. That premium has kept Tesla above $1 trillion even as Musk took a controversial role in President Donald Trump's administration.

"We have to go back 100 years to get comparable entrepreneurs. He's a visionary unlike others, and he executes extremely well," said Joel Shulman, CEO of ERShares, which manages an ETF with exposure to SpaceX.

Not everyone is convinced. Morningstar analysts say SpaceX is more fairly valued at around $780 billion — less than half its opening market cap. Rivals like Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are also racing to commercialize space and chase government contracts.

"This isn't a name you're buying based on fundamentals. For me, the analogy is Amazon. This was a company that changed the way we live," said Nancy Tengler, CEO of Laffer Tengler Investments. "If the stock drops to $100, that's not ideal, but it wouldn't change our long-term view. We want to participate."

Trading day and market impact

Shares won't start trading until the middle of the day. The exchange is collecting buy and sell orders while underwriters wait until supply and demand balance. This is to avoid the technical failures that messed up Meta's 2012 IPO.

The listing is a dress rehearsal for upcoming mega-IPOs from AI heavyweights Anthropic and OpenAI. Exchanges and underwriters are under pressure to prove they can handle massive order volumes.

SpaceX will likely join the Nasdaq 100 within a month under new fast-entry rules, instead of the usual year-long wait. That means passive funds and ETFs tracking the index will have to buy the stock, creating more demand. Some analysts expect a reshuffling of portfolios, with funds selling other tech stocks to make room for SpaceX.

Shares of other space companies also rose in premarket trading. Intuitive Machines, Planet Labs, and Satellogic were up between 3.3% and 4.5%.