SouthernWorldwide.com – SpaceX shares experienced a significant surge, opening at $150 on Friday, which is 11% higher than their initial offering price of $135. This marks the largest initial public offering in history for the company.
The stock, trading under the ticker symbol SPCX on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, began its trading day at 11:46 a.m. ET. By midday, it had climbed to a high of $176.52, representing a 31% increase from the IPO offer price. As of 2:42 p.m., the shares were trading at $170.90.
Jay Ritter, a professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business and an expert on IPOs, commented to CBS News that while price jumps are common with IPOs, this particular performance is noteworthy. He stated, “This is not a moonshot, but given the size of the deal, if the stock price holds, there will be more dollar value of [early stock returns] than any IPO in history.”
Ritter noted that the opening price was somewhat lower than predicted by betting markets, but still considered a positive outcome given that trading remained well above the IPO sale price.
On Thursday, SpaceX finalized its share pricing at $135, successfully raising $75 billion. These funds are earmarked to support the company’s ambitious objectives, which include the establishment of a human colony on Mars and the deployment of solar-powered data centers in space.
This monumental IPO positions SpaceX as the largest global IPO to date, eclipsing the previous record holder, Saudi Aramco. In 2019, the state-owned Saudi Arabian oil company raised approximately $26 billion during its public offering, according to Renaissance Capital.
SpaceX’s entry into the public market occurs at a time when the stock market is consistently achieving new record highs. This surge is largely attributed to robust corporate profits and the burgeoning artificial intelligence boom. The company’s IPO is also seen as a precursor to future public offerings from other prominent AI players, including OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which have announced their intentions to go public.
Rockets, satellites, and AI
Founded by Elon Musk in 2002, SpaceX specializes in the development and launch of spacecraft for a diverse clientele, including satellite operators, NASA, and the Department of Defense. The company’s operations encompass Starlink, its satellite division providing broadband connectivity, and an artificial intelligence division focused on building data centers.
In February, SpaceX also completed the acquisition of xAI, Elon Musk’s company. xAI is involved in running the social networking platform X and the chatbot Grok.
The public stock offering of SpaceX has garnered substantial investor interest. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the IPO received over $100 billion in retail orders.
The strong debut of SpaceX has propelled its market value to $2.2 trillion. This valuation places it ahead of other major publicly listed companies such as Meta Platforms, Samsung, and Tesla, which is also owned by Musk. However, SpaceX still trails behind Nvidia, currently the world’s most valuable company with a market capitalization of approximately $5 trillion, according to FactSet, as well as several other leading tech firms.
Despite its high valuation, SpaceX’s revenue and profitability figures lag behind those of other major tech giants. The company, which is currently unprofitable, reported $18.7 billion in revenue last year. This figure is considerably lower than Alphabet’s $400 billion in sales for 2025.
Ritter highlighted the significant gap in profitability, stating before the IPO, “Alphabet, Apple and Nvidia are producing annual after-tax profits of more than $100 billion a year. There’s a long way to go to catch up with the profitability of those mega caps.”
Indeed, SpaceX faces considerable challenges in realizing its ambitious plans for commercial space ventures, including establishing a network of AI-powered satellites orbiting the Earth, and in justifying its substantial valuation.
Matthew Kennedy, a senior market strategist at Renaissance Capital, commented on the valuation, “I can see the argument for why this company should deserve a lower valuation. At the same time, it is true that some stocks are expensive and stay expensive.”
Many industry experts anticipate that SpaceX stock will experience volatility in its initial trading period, a common occurrence with other large IPOs. A Truist analysis of 30 significant technology IPOs revealed that over half of these offerings saw negative returns one year after their shares began trading.
Samuel Kerr, global head of ECM at Mergermarket, a financial intelligence firm specializing in the M&A sector, expressed prior to the stock’s trading commencement, “The question on SpaceX is less about the immediate trading after IPO and more about how the price holds over the longer term.”
The Trillion-Dollar Man
The IPO has, on paper, elevated SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to trillionaire status, solidifying his position as the world’s richest person. According to the IPO filing, Musk possesses 4.8 billion SpaceX shares, approximately 42% of the company, along with 350 million stock options. With 82.4% of the company’s voting power, he will continue to exert significant influence over SpaceX’s future direction.
SpaceX shares are expected to be integrated into several stock market indices, including the Nasdaq 100 and Russell indices, in the coming days. This inclusion is anticipated to open doors for a broader range of investors, including individuals with 401(k) plans, to potentially become shareholders.
SpaceX, which had initially filed for a confidential initial public offering in April, has indicated that it perceives a market opportunity exceeding $28 trillion across the various industries in which it operates.
An analysis by Van Ha Trinh, a financial markets analyst at the online broker Exness, attributes 90% of this market opportunity to xAI alone. This figure underscores SpaceX’s strategic belief that its advancements in artificial intelligence will be a primary driver of its future growth.
