So, here's a thing that might happen: SpaceX, the rocket company that's basically Elon Musk's other big project, has reportedly filed the paperwork to go public. And not just any public offering—we're talking about the biggest one ever.
According to reports, SpaceX submitted a draft registration for an initial public offering to the SEC. The key word here is "confidentially," which means the company can get feedback and tweak things before the whole world gets to see its financials. It's like a dress rehearsal before the big show.
And what a show it could be. The target is a listing in June with a valuation north of $1.75 trillion dollars. Let that number sink in for a second. That would easily surpass the previous record holder, Saudi Aramco, which raised about $29 billion when it went public in 2019. We're talking about an order-of-magnitude difference here. It's the kind of number that makes you check if you read it correctly.
To pull this off, you need some serious banking muscle. And SpaceX has it. The usual Wall Street suspects—Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley—are all in senior roles on the deal. Citigroup is also in the mix. It's not just a U.S. party, either. International banks like Royal Bank of Canada, Mizuho Financial Group, and Macquarie Group are reportedly involved to help manage shares in their respective regions.
Now, here's an interesting detail that might matter to future shareholders: SpaceX is reportedly thinking about a dual-class share structure. This is a common move for founder-led companies (think Google (GOOGL) or Meta (META) back in the day). It would give insiders, presumably including Musk himself, super-voting shares. That means they could retain outsized control over corporate decisions even after selling a chunk of the company to the public. It's a way to have your IPO cake and eat it too—raise a mountain of cash but keep a firm grip on the steering wheel.
Sources say SpaceX executives plan to meet with prospective investors this month to start drumming up interest. This comes after a notable transaction earlier this year. In February, it was reported that SpaceX acquired Musk's AI startup, xAI. That deal reportedly valued SpaceX at about $1 trillion and xAI at around $250 billion. So, the rumored $1.75+ trillion IPO target represents a significant markup in a relatively short time, reflecting the intense hype around the company's launch and Starlink satellite internet businesses.
For regular investors who can't just call up a venture capitalist, getting direct exposure to a pre-IPO company like SpaceX is tricky. But there are some backdoor ways in through the public markets already.
A few mutual funds and ETFs have managed to build sizable positions in SpaceX while it's still private. The Baron Partners Fund (BPTRX) is the poster child here. It started with an early, roughly 4% allocation and, after successive valuation increases, that stake has ballooned to represent about 32% of the fund's net assets. That's an enormous, concentrated bet. Its sister strategy, the Baron Focused Growth Fund (BFGIX), also lists SpaceX as a core holding at roughly 24.2% of assets.
On the venture capital side of things, the ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX) holds SpaceX as its largest position, with an allocation in the low-teens percentage of assets, bundling it with other private, disruptive companies.
And for those who prefer the pure ETF route, there's one U.S.-listed option: the ERShares Private-Public Crossover ETF (XOVR). It's the only ETF that explicitly holds SpaceX, offering a slice of the action alongside other companies that crossover between private and public capital.
So, the stage is being set. The banks are lined up, the valuation targets are astronomical, and the funds are already placing their bets. If this IPO happens as rumored, it won't just be a financial event; it will be a cultural and technological milestone, bringing one of the most ambitious companies of our time directly into the public spotlight. Buckle up.
