Demand explodes as SpaceX IPO tops US$85b, Musk’s valuation leaps into science‑fiction territory

NEW YORK, June 16 — SpaceX shares shot higher Monday as the company said it raised a record-breaking US$85.7 billion.

The completed sale cements SpaceX’s stellar debut on Wall Street, eclipsing the previous largest IPOs and helping make Musk the world’s first trillionaire.

The stock climbed as much as 8.7 per cent in Monday trading, extending Friday’s 19 percent jump hours after the shares first started trading on the Nasdaq.

In late morning trading in New York, the company’s market value sat at more than US$2.2 trillion, putting it among the seven largest companies in the world — ahead of Broadcom, Saudi Aramco and Tesla.

Demand for SpaceX’s shares was so strong that the banks running the sale exercised a so-called greenshoe option — in effect permission to sell extra shares when investors want more than planned.

SpaceX ended up selling nearly 639 million shares, including more than 83 million extra ones, lifting the total raised to US$85.7 billion beyond the originally planned $75 billion.

Co-founded by Musk in 2002, the rocket startup has since expanded into a major satellite operator and folded in his artificial intelligence company, xAI, which includes the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The towering valuation rests heavily on the belief that Musk will deliver on promises worthy of science fiction, including putting humans on Mars and data centers in space using as-yet unproven technology. — AFP