Speculation before trading began had the stock opening 30% above IPO price
The first shares of SpaceX have begun trading on the Nasdaq for $152 (USD). That represents an 12.5 per cent jump from the IPO price of $135 (USD) per share which valued SpaceX at $1.77 trillion (USD). The sale of 555.6 million shares at that $135 unit price represents the largest IPO in history.
In comments made on a livestream before launch, Elon Musk claimed that SpaceX has been cash-flow positive since 2015, and he wants the IPO to raise capital for a "significant growth phase." including the launch of more satelites and the building of AI data centres in space. In its prospectus, SpaceX disclosed that it has accumulated a total deficit of $41.3 billion since its founding in 2002. While SpaceX was founded as a reusable rocket maker, its Starlink satelite internet division is currently the only profitable part of the enterprise.
The share price makes Elon Musk the world's fist trillionaire. The prospectus discloses that Musk controls 85.1 per cent of all voting power in the company, with his class B shares worth ten votes each.
The price of SpaceX has been questioned by some, with its valuation relative to a trailing revenue of $19.3 billion producing a price-to-sales multiple of 93x, which is 15 times higher than the price-to-sales multiple of the Nasdaq 100.
