SpaceX has sold $75bn in shares to financial firms ahead of its debut on the US stock market today.
The move was part of a fundraising exercise designed to generate enough capital to drive various infrastructure projects in space, its global connectivity service known as Starlink and its AI efforts. While the firm has traditionally been focused on the space sector, in February it acquired xAI, an AI firm also founded by Elon Musk that develops and operates the Grok chatbot.
The initial public offering only sold around 4.2% of the company’s equity, giving an implied total valuation for SpaceX of $1.77tn (£1.32tn). The deal was structured using dual-class stock options that effectively give the public very minimal voting power. Musk himself holds super-voting Class B shares, which typically carry 10 votes per share compared to the public’s one vote per share. As a result, he has a commanding 82.4% of the total voting rights.
According to the Financial Times, SpaceX attracted orders for more...