SpaceX is sprinting toward a historic milestone. Elon Musk’s aerospace giant, which currently stands as the most valuable private company in the world, is finalizing its plans to join the stock market. Sources familiar with the internal strategy confirmed that the company selected Goldman Sachs to lead the initial public offering. This move places Goldman Sachs in the top spot on the official prospectus, with Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase filling out the remaining ranks of the underwriting team.
The company plans to release its official prospectus to the public as early as this Wednesday. This follows a confidential filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission last month. The anticipation surrounding this deal is immense, largely because SpaceX represents a unique powerhouse in both space travel and artificial intelligence. After merging with Musk’s AI startup, xAI, in February, the company reached a staggering internal valuation of $1.25 trillion. Investors now wait to see if the public market will agree with that massive price tag.
Few technology companies have ever attempted a launch of this scale. In the history of United States stock exchanges, only Facebook and Alibaba achieved a valuation above $100 billion after their first day of trading. Last week, the AI chipmaker Cerebras successfully debuted on the Nasdaq with a market capitalization of $95 billion, proving that investors still have a massive appetite for companies linked to the artificial intelligence trade. SpaceX clearly intends to dwarf those figures when it finally rings the opening bell.
SpaceX wants to reach the public market before its direct rivals in the AI space. Leaders at OpenAI and Anthropic are currently working toward their own public offerings, with both companies carrying private valuations near $1 trillion. By filing its papers now, SpaceX hopes to secure the primary attention of major investors who are eager to put money into the future of computing and aerospace. If the company hits its target, it could be the largest IPO in history, easily raising more than $1 billion in capital.
For Elon Musk, this high-stakes moment arrives just days after a painful loss in federal court. On Monday, an advisory jury in Oakland, California, ruled against him in his lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman. Musk claimed that Altman violated an original promise to keep OpenAI a nonprofit organization. The jury decided that Musk waited too long to file the suit, letting the three-year statute of limitations expire. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers immediately adopted the verdict, ending the current case. Musk dismissed the loss as a mere “calendar technicality” and promised to file an appeal.
The transition to a public company brings a new era of transparency for Musk’s empire. As a private entity, SpaceX operated without the constant scrutiny of quarterly earnings reports. Once the ticker symbol is live, every rocket test, satellite launch, and corporate hiring move will influence the share price instantly. Investors will expect clear answers about how a company with a $1.25 trillion valuation intends to keep growing in an economy where even a 1.5% shift in interest rates can drastically change the company’s borrowing costs.
Musk is well-acquainted with the pressures of the Nasdaq. He led Tesla through its own IPO back in 2010. During that landmark deal, Goldman Sachs also acted as the lead bank, while Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan served as primary partners. Musk is leaning on his old playbook to ensure that his space company follows the same path to massive growth. He believes that by combining his rocket hardware with xAI’s software, he is building a company that will be indispensable to the global economy for decades to come.
As the company moves toward this record-breaking sale, all eyes on Wall Street are focused on the fine print in the upcoming prospectus. If the documents show that SpaceX can maintain its dominance in satellite launches while successfully scaling its new AI division, the stock will likely attract interest from every major pension fund and retail investor in the world. For now, the rocket company remains focused on its mission to reach the stars, but this week, its biggest challenge will be navigating the complex reality of Wall Street.
