SpaceX plans a June IPO potentially raising $50B, coinciding with a rare Jupiter-Venus alignment and Musk’s 54th birthday
SAN FRANCISCO: SpaceX is targeting a mid-June initial public offering that would coincide with a rare planetary alignment and founder Elon Musk’s birthday.
The Financial Times reported the rocket company is planning its IPO for when Jupiter and Venus appear very close together in the sky on June 8-9.
The timing also aligns closely with June 28, Musk’s 54th birthday, though the report said it was subject to change.
SpaceX is seeking to raise as much as $50 billion at a valuation of roughly $1.5 trillion.
That would make it the largest public listing in history, far exceeding the $29 billion raised by Saudi Aramco in 2019.
The unusual IPO timing underscores Musk’s history of mixing personal whims with business decisions.
In 2018, he tweeted about taking Tesla private at $420 per share, a price widely understood as a reference to cannabis culture.
SpaceX dominates the space launch market with its reusable rockets and owns the largest satellite constellation through Starlink.
Musk had previously opposed an IPO for SpaceX because he did not enjoy the scrutiny of publicly-traded Tesla.
He also feared the market’s desire for financial returns was at odds with his ultimate goal of settling Mars.
But the company’s latest priorities will require significant investment, prompting Musk to opt for an IPO.
These include developing Starship, the largest rocket ever built, for missions to the Moon and Mars.
The company also has plans to build space-based data centers for artificial intelligence.
