Elon Musk is preparing to allocate as much as 30% of the shares in SpaceX’s forthcoming IPO to retail investors, according to Reuters. The alleged move represents a significant departure from usual Wall Street practice.
SpaceX, the rocket and satellite operator founded and owned by Elon Musk, is on track for what could be the biggest initial public offering ever later this year.
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In February the company acquired xAI, another of Musk's firms, in an all-stock transaction that valued SpaceX at $1tn (€842bn) and xAI at $250bn (€210bn), creating an entity with a $1.25tn (€1.05tn) valuation.
This merger made SpaceX the largest private company by valuation in history while it is expected to enter public markets in 2026.
The IPO could also turn Elon Musk into the first recorded trillionaire in history.
As per a source familiar with the matter cited by Reuters, Musk wants to direct at least three times the typical retail portion in the IPO, normally limited to between 5% and 10% of the float, to everyday investors.
The goal is to encourage longer-term ownership rather than the quick institutional sell-offs sometimes seen after a strong opening day.
SpaceX's chief financial officer, Bret Johnsen, has reportedly already shared the proposal with investment banks.
The plan is paired with a tailored underwriting process in which each financial institution receives narrowly defined responsibilities based on existing ties and regional strengths, rather than a broad contest for the entire deal.
In January, four leading Wall Street firms, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, were reported to be in line for prominent roles.
However, Reuters now indicates that Bank of America has been handpicked by Musk to oversee domestic retail distribution, concentrating on high-net-worth clients and family offices in the US.
Morgan Stanley is tipped to manage smaller retail orders through its E*Trade service, UBS will target international high-net-worth and family-office buyers, while Citi will allegedly coordinate wider overseas retail and institutional sales in partnership with banks covering specific markets in Canada, Europe and Asia.
SpaceX IPO seen as key test of AI and tech market sentiment
Analysts are already framing the SpaceX IPO as a barometer for broader confidence in technology and AI stocks.
According to AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould, financial markets had begun to question whether a bubble had formed in the sector before attention shifted elsewhere, citing lofty valuations and heavy spending plans.
"The putative stock market flotation for SpaceX should therefore be an interesting test of market sentiment," he wrote in a company note on Thursday.
Mould noted that share prices of the "Magnificent Seven" and fellow AI hyperscalers such as Oracle have lagged the S&P 500 so far this year, with the index also trailing other global indices, adding that bulls will be hoping for a strong performance from the SpaceX deal.
Mould also highlighted reports suggesting the company could sell $75bn (€65bn) in stock to achieve a $1.5tn market capitalisation, which would immediately propel it into the world’s top ten public companies, just ahead of Tesla.
He warned of historical parallels, quoting Warren Buffett’s observation that bull markets often end when "the idiots" pile in after the innovators and imitators.
Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, captured the anticipation more colourfully, by stating that "just as people in the control room hold their breath in the final moments before the launch of a rocket into space, investors are eagerly counting down the days to the likely take-off date for SpaceX’s IPO".
Coatsworth added that demand could be enormous given Musk’s fan base and that expectations are "sky high" for the shares to deliver Nvidia-style gains.
