SpaceX valued at about $800 billion as it arranges insider share buy before possible IPO

SpaceX told employees in a letter that it would buy insider shares in a deal that values the company at around $800 billion and that it is preparing for a potential initial public offering next year, the letter said. In the letter, obtained by The New York Times, SpaceX chief financial officer Bret Johnsen said the company and investors planned to buy $2.56 billion of shares from stockholders at $421 a share, nearly double its previous internal share price.

Mr. Johnsen also alluded to a possible public offering and wrote, "Whether it actually happens, when it happens, and at what valuation are still highly uncertain." The offer would make SpaceX the world’s most valuable private company, outstripping OpenAI, which is currently valued at around $500 billion.

SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, is a major player in the space industry with rockets and the Starlink satellite internet service and works with the Pentagon, NASA and other agencies. Mr. Musk has ambitions for the Starship rocket to ferry humans to Mars, holds a multibillion-dollar agreement with NASA for a crewed moon mission, and has referred to a proposed lunar base as Moonbase Alpha; the company’s moon plan "appears to have fallen behind schedule," the report said.

As of 2022, Mr. Musk owned 44 percent of the company, and he has hinted on X that SpaceX would go public soon. Mr.

Key Topics

Business, Spacex, Elon Musk, Bret Johnsen, Starship, Starlink