SpaceX files for IPO that could make Elon Musk a trillionaire

Source: BBC Technology

SpaceX to go public in the US

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has revealed its plans to go public in the US, allowing people to trade shares in the firm on the stock market.

SpaceX makes rockets, offers a satellite internet service called Starlink, and also owns Musk’s controversial artificial intelligence (AI) firm xAI.

The initial public offering (IPO) on the US stock market is set to be the largest in Wall Street history and could start next month under the ticker symbol SPCX.

Because of the shares he will own in SpaceX, the IPO could make billionaire Musk, who is already the world’s richest person, a trillionaire. SpaceX values itself at $1.25 tn, and Musk’s majority ownership means his stake could be worth more than $600 bn.

Last year, Musk, who is also the boss of electric‑vehicle maker Tesla, became the first person to achieve a net worth that topped $500 bn. This means the SpaceX listing could take his total net worth to over $1 trn.

Financial snapshot from the filing

• Revenue (last year): $18.6 bn (£13.8 bn)
• Net loss (last year): $4.9 bn
• Revenue (first quarter 2024): $4.7 bn
• Net loss (first quarter 2024): $4.3 bn
• Assets: $102 bn (rockets, equipment, etc.)
• Debt: $60.5 bn

SpaceX also flagged more than half a billion dollars in expected legal costs stemming from a long list of claims, including:

• Lawsuits alleging that Grok, the chatbot made by xAI, is being used to create sexualized deepfakes of real women and girls.
• Patent‑infringement claims.
• Claims of non‑compliance with EU content‑moderation rules.
• Music copyright‑infringement claims.
• Data‑breach claims.

Musk has said he intends to dissolve xAI and pursue his AI ambitions under SpaceX. SpaceX also owns X, the social‑media platform previously known as Twitter, which Musk purchased in 2022.

AI rivals

Also revealed in the filing on Wednesday were the financial terms of the deal that SpaceX recently struck with an AI competitor, Anthropic, the developer of Claude.

• Anthropic will pay $15 bn a year to access data centres in the American South for Musk’s xAI, which was recently acquired by SpaceX.

While Musk’s AI ambitions have struggled amid a spate of controversies, SpaceX’s rocket business and Starlink are considered leaders in the industry—both possess a comfortable lead over the competition.

The IPO filing comes just days after Musk lost a high‑profile legal battle against rival AI company OpenAI and its boss, Sam Altman. Musk had accused Altman of breaching a non‑profit contract by shifting the ChatGPT‑maker to a for‑profit after Musk had donated millions of dollars. The jury unanimously threw out the case, finding that the timeframe to bring his claims had expired because Musk had waited too long to file his 2024 lawsuit.

At trial, Musk told jurors that his AI startup xAI was small relative to OpenAI, which is also expected to sell shares to the public imminently.

SpaceX’s Starship megarocket is set to launch this week, but the company has also come under scrutiny for endangering workers at its facilities.