SpaceX files initial paperwork to sell shares to the public and likely
make Musk a trillionaire
[April 02, 2026] By
BERNARD CONDON and KEN SWEET
NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk's space exploration company has filed
preliminary paperwork to sell shares to the public, according to two
sources familiar with the filing, a blockbuster offering that would
likely rank as the biggest ever and could make its founder the world's
first trillionaire.
A SpaceX IPO promises to be one of the biggest Wall Street events of the
year, with several investment banks lining up to help raise tens of
billions to fund Musk's ambitions to set up a base on the moon, put
datacenters the size of several football fields in orbit and possibly
one day send a man to Mars.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to talk publicly about the confidential registration with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
SpaceX did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Exactly how much SpaceX plans to raise has not been disclosed but the
figure is reportedly as much as $75 billion. At that level, the offering
would easily eclipse the $29 billion that Saudi Aramco raised in its IPO
in 2019.
The offering, coming possibly in June, could value all the shares of
SpaceX at $1.5 trillion, nearly double what the company was valued in
December when some minority owners sold their stakes, according to
research firm Pitchbook, before an acquisition that increased its size.
Musk owns 42% of the SpaceX now, according to Pitchbook, though that
figure will change with the IPO when new owners are issued shares. In
any case, he is likely to pierce the trillion dollar mark because he is
already close. Forbes magazine estimates Musk's net worth at roughly
$823 billion.
In addition to making reusable rockets to hurl astronauts and hardware
into orbit, SpaceX owns Starlink, the world’s largest satellite
communications company. The company also recently brought under its roof
two other Musk businesses, social media platform X, formerly Twitter,
and artificial intelligence business, xAI, in a controversial
transaction because both the seller and the buyer were controlled by
him.
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Elon Musk attends the finals for the NCAA wrestling championship,
March 22, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
 SpaceX has become the biggest
commercial launch company in its industry, responsible for sending
payloads into orbit for customers across the globe, but has also
benefited from big taxpayer spending. That has raised conflicts of
interest issues given that Musk was the biggest donor to President
Donald Trump's campaign and is still a big backer.
In the past five years, SpaceX won $6 billion in contracts from
NASA, the Defense Department and other U.S. government agencies,
according to USAspending.gov.
Among current SpaceX owners is Donald Trump Jr, the president's
oldest son. He owns a shares through 1789 Capital. That venture
capital firm made him a partner shortly after his father won the
presidency for a second time and has been buying up federal
contractors seeking to win taxpayer money ever since.
The White House and Trump himself have repeatedly denied there are
any conflicts of interest between his role as president and his
family's businesses.
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