Elon Musk’s SpaceX begins trading on Wall Street today after raising $75 billion in a record-breaking initial public offering that values the company at $1.77 trillion.
The rockets-to-satellites-to-AI company sold 555,555,555 Class A common shares at $135.00 each, putting SpaceX among the world’s largest public companies before its first trade. The listing could also make Musk the world’s first trillionaire later today, depending on how the stock performs.
Banks underwriting the deal have an over-allotment option to buy another 83.3 million shares, which would lift the IPO size to about $86 billion.
Demand was heavy. SpaceX attracted orders for more than three times the shares on offer, with strong interest from institutions and retail investors. That could support the stock when trading starts, as buyers who missed out on shares, or got fewer than they wanted, try to buy in the open market.
The demand came even though some investors questioned the valuation, with SpaceX priced at 92 times last year’s revenue.
Marex Financial, which handled the UK retail side of the IPO, said just over 60% of UK investors who applied received their full allocation. Investors who applied for up to $2,700, or £2,013, were allocated shares in full, rounded down to the nearest whole share.
Marex said:
“Investors in the Retail Offer who applied for up to $2,700 (£2,013) have been allocated in full, rounded down to the nearest whole Share. Those who applied for more than this amount have been scaled back, with a maximum of 1000 Shares being allocated to any such investor.”
That means 61% of investors in the UK retail offer received their full allocation, while those who wanted more than about £2,000 worth of shares were scaled back.