SpaceX’s IPO Dream: How Musk Plans to Rewrite Market History

World stock markets are gradually taking note of Elon Musk's SpaceX as it drives the debate towards what could be the globe's largest IPO in record. SpaceX has planned to raise an excess of $25 billion (approximately ₹225,000 crore) in an IPO for the consideration of surpassing Saudi Aramco's record IPO and shaping the global capital markets anew.

What is an IPO and why do companies opt for one; inherently, PLCs considered as the structure?

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of a private company signifies the right moment when the company publicly places some to all of its shares for the first time. This therefore makes the company a fully publicly traded one. Market theories suggest companies undertake IPOs to raise large sums of capital to support forthcoming projects (like across various sectors, including research and development, finance management, asset balancing, etc.), or enhance brand identity and market reputation.

Till now, in India Hyundai Motor India, with an IPO of over ₹27,000 crore, is second to India's largest LIC. Recently, IPOs, for companies such as Meesho, Groww, and ICICI Prudential, were hot commodities, while its counterpart, Reliance Jio, Zepto, and PhonePe, are also set for public floats in the coming year.

SpaceX v. Saudi Aramco: Records in the making:

Saudi Aramco is the largest IPO ever recorded globally, at $25+ billion, while soon SpaceX could take over. Rockets say it may raise $25+ billion, which will be more than ₹2.25 lakh crore.

SpaceX has currently initiated a share sale from within the company, set to value the company at an estimated $800 billion (around 72 Lakh Crore). With this valuation, SpaceX will go on to become the world's most valuable private company, leapfrogging even OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT.

IPO particulars and what the money will be spent on

Another activity that SpaceX has conducted prior to going IPO was buying back shares worth $2.56 billion from the eligible shareholders at around $421 per enterprise.

In a letter to the shareholders, SpaceX CFO Brett Johnsen delineated how the company plans to use the future funds. They mainly would be utilized for the expedited development of the Starship rocket program and setting-up of an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) data center. SpaceX purportedly aims to go public as early as next financial year.

With the success of the SpaceX IPO, it is not only the making of an epic event in the global financial market but also the grand opening of a whole new era in the space industry—the main selling point being to bring Elon Musk's ambitious vision closer to public investors throughout the planet. 🚀