SpaceX raises $75bn ahead of record $1.8tn stock listing

SpaceX has raised $75bn from financial firms ahead of becoming a publicly traded company on Friday, in what is expected to be the highest-value stock listing in history.

In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the space exploration and artificial intelligence company said it had sold $75bn in shares priced at $135 each.

The share price matches the estimate SpaceX gave last week, leaving the firm's expected initial stock market value at nearly $1.8tn.

At that value, chief executive Elon Musk, already the richest man in the world, is set to become the world's first trillionaire.

Once shares start trading, their value could rise or fall depending on how many shares are made available for sale and how strong demand is for those shares.

If the company's shares sell at or above $135 when trading opens on Friday, SpaceX will immediately become one of the most valuable public companies in the world.

Interest in acquiring a stake in SpaceX among investment funds and retail investors is expected to be high.

Certain financial analysts have already set target prices for the shares above SpaceX's $135 estimate, including the global brokerage Oppenheimer, which said on Thursday it expects the company to hit $190 a share.

The public price for a share in the company is ultimately decided through an auction on the open stock market.

Tom Mueller, who was the first official employee of SpaceX and is now the founder of Impulse Space, told the BBC's Michelle Fleury that "it's unbelievable" to see what the company has become.

Mueller recalled when SpaceX got its first rocket engine running, when that engine exploded, when another rocket crashed, and when the company finally made a successful launch to orbit in 2008.

The listing on the technology-focused Nasdaq index is being viewed by some as a test case for other companies with private valuations nearing $1tn, including Anthropic and OpenAI. Both of those companies have recently said they are preparing to go public, likely this year.

Despite SpaceX becoming a public company, which will put its operations under more scrutiny, Musk will maintain almost total control of it.

Through his combined holding of Class A and Class B shares, Musk will maintain roughly 40% of SpaceX total equity, giving him more than 84% voting power.

Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and chief executive of Meta, the company that owns Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, has a similar holding of different classes of shares in his firm. Yet his voting control is around 60% of the company, significantly less than Musk's control of SpaceX.

With so much control consolidated with Musk, SpaceX will not even need to have on its board of directors anyone considered to be "independent," meaning someone who does not have a direct personal or financial interest in the company.

Even if Musk decides to sell some of his Class A equity in the future, which would likely add significantly to his already record wealth, he would "retain his lock on control" due to the number of Class B shares he maintains, according to an analysis from Harvard Law School.