Elon Musk's SpaceX plans IPO with shares to be sold as soon as June

SpaceX took the wraps off its IPO filing on Wednesday, opening the books of the company that has already revolutionized rocket technology, with even larger ambitions to colonize Mars and build AI data centres in space.

The listing is poised to become the first trillion-dollar U.S. market debut and could ‌set the stage for a number of monumental IPOs in coming months, among them potentially technology giants OpenAI and Anthropic.

The sale would immediately cement SpaceX as one of the world's most valuable publicly traded companies, the second in Elon Musk's sprawling business empire to surpass $1 trillion US in market value.

The filing confirmed a series of recent Reuters reports about the IPO.

SpaceX has grown into the world's largest space business since its founding in 2002 by launching thousands of Starlink internet satellites. Its pioneering use of reusable rockets has transformed the economics ​of space, forcing competitors like Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to play catch-up.

While SpaceX made its name by ​building rockets and launching satellites into space, most of its $18.67 billion US in revenue last year came from its Starlink satellite internet business and much of its future growth hinges on artificial intelligence-related businesses. Its nascent xAI unit still loses money, according to the filing.

A successful sale could value the company at a record-setting $1.75 trillion US, which ​would put its founder on track to become the first trillionaire in history.

The company's regulatory disclosure comes ⁠during a critical week for the rocket maker, which is preparing to launch a test flight of its ‌next-generation Starship rocket.

Musk's plans for lunar and Mars missions and to expand its Starlink satellite internet business depend on the new rocket.

The test launch, originally scheduled for Tuesday, is now expected later this week.

WATCH | The risks of falling space debris:

With almost ten thousand Starlink satellites in orbit, Elon Musk's SpaceX leads in a new space race. But as more players race to launch satellite megaconstellations of their own, scientists are raising the alarm about the rising risks of having so many in orbit — and what happens when they plummet back to Earth. As Darius Mahdavi reports, the risk of a fatality from falling space debris has climbed dramatically, even as experts find new ways to track re-entries.

The board has given Musk control over the company, but ties much of his compensation to audacious targets of establishing a permanent human colony on Mars and building space data centres with compute capacity powered by the equivalent of 100 terawatts, or 100,000 one-gigawatt nuclear reactors, Reuters previously reported.

Musk will retain 85.1 per cent of the ⁠combined voting power of the company, the filing showed.

SpaceX is aiming to list its shares as early as June 12, with a roadshow launch targeted for June 4 and the share sale expected as early as June 11, Reuters reported last week.