SpaceX SPCX.O shares jumped 19% in their Nasdaq debut on Friday, sending the company’s value past $2 trillion to make it the sixth-biggest U.S. company by value and turning Elon Musk into the world’s first trillionaire. Investors jumped at the chance to get a piece of Musk‘s sprawling empire spanning rockets, satellites and AI after the record-setting $75 billion IPO. More than 510 million shares worth about $84 billion changed hands, even though SpaceX is currently unprofitable and generated only a fraction of the revenue brought in by similarly valued tech giants.
The launch was smoother than many observers expected, with trading kicking off late on Friday morning without the hiccups that had marred Facebook’s debut in 2012. SpaceX shares ended the day at $160.95 a share to bring its value to $2.1 trillion. The gain pushed SpaceX’s market value past Broadcom AVGO.O, with Amazon AMZN.O next in line at $2.6 trillion. The trade capped off a lead-up fraught with anxiety over the Nasdaq exchange’s ability to handle the launch, particularly after a recent swoon in technology shares raised concerns about stratospheric gains in AI-linked names. Mega-listings from AI heavyweights Anthropic and OpenAI are waiting in the wings.
Investors across the spectrum, from large institutions to retail fans of Musk, ended the day euphoric. Analysts and portfolio managers said investors should brace for volatility, particularly early in SpaceX’s life as a public company, due to its small relative float and high valuation. SpaceX’s $18.7 billion in revenue gives the company a price-to-revenue ratio of roughly 112, far above other megacap stocks. Retail investors received about 20% of the allocation, far more than the typical IPO, with some even celebrating an allocation of one share.
SpaceX executives, including President Gwynne Shotwell and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen, celebrated at the Nasdaq market site in New York’s Times Square after ringing the opening bell on Friday. Musk held a separate event for employees in Texas. SpaceX’s valuation could rise further should underwriters exercise their right to sell additional shares, a decision typically made within 30 days after the offering.
An estimated 4,000 current or former SpaceX employees will become millionaires based on the value of their SpaceX shares, according to Hill.com. Although SpaceX’s lack of profitability makes it ineligible to join the S&P 500 .SPX, its expected fast-track inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 will soon make it a major holding for passive funds and ETFs that track the index, creating a fresh source of demand for its shares. It will take about a month before SpaceX gets added to that index under Nasdaq’s new fast-entry rules, as opposed to a typical wait of as much as a year.
The major indices all close higher, with the S&P 500 gaining 37.6 points, the NASDAG adding 79.18, and the DOW up 363.51. Some analysts expect SpaceX’s debut to trigger a reshuffling of investor portfolios, creating selling pressure on other technology heavyweights as funds rotate into the stock. On Friday, shares of other space firms and satellite companies declined sharply, with Planet Labs PL.N down 9% and EchoStar SATS.O down 11%.
Reporting by Manya Saini and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Echo Wang in New York; Additional reporting by Sriparna Roy, Noel Randewich, David Jeans, Joey Roulette and Akash Sriram; Editing by Colin Barr, Dawn Kopecki, David Gaffen, Anil D’Silva and Matthew Lewis.
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