SpaceX files for stock market debut that could make Elon Musk a trillionaire

Source: BBC Technology

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 also runs electric‑vehicle maker Tesla, became the first person to achieve a net worth that topped $500 bn. The SpaceX listing could therefore push his total net worth over $1 tn.

Financial overview

• 2023 revenue: $18.6 bn (£13.8 bn)
• 2023 net loss: $4.9 bn
• Q1 2024 revenue: $4.7 bn
• Q1 2024 net loss: $4.3 bn
• Assets: $102 bn (rockets, equipment, etc.)
• Debt: $60.5 bn

Ruth Foxe‑Blader, managing partner at US venture‑capital firm Citrine Venture Partners, told the BBC that “it’s not shocking for a project like this to be loss making, even at the point of IPO.” She called the planned flotation “extremely exciting,” noting that “SpaceX is just an absolutely sprawling, enormous project with so many different selling points, and so many points that really point to the future.”

Legal issues

SpaceX flagged more than $500 m 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 formerly known as Twitter), which Musk purchased in 2022.

AI rivals

Also revealed in the filing were the financial terms of a deal with AI competitor Anthropic, the developer of Claude. Anthropic will pay $15 bn per 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 faced controversies, SpaceX’s rocket business and Starlink are considered industry leaders, maintaining a comfortable lead over the competition. Musk had accused Anthropic’s CEO Sam Altman of breaching a non‑profit contract after Altman shifted the ChatGPT‑maker to a for‑profit model; a jury unanimously threw out the case, finding the claim was time‑barred.

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, though the company has faced scrutiny over worker safety at its facilities.