SpaceX Plans $750 Billion IPO, Allocates 5% of Shares to Employees and Associates

[Photo by Reuters]

SpaceX has allocated a portion of its shares for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) to employees and associates. The company is preparing for a massive listing expected to raise approximately $750 billion, while also revealing the possibility of an early termination of a significant AI computing lease with Anthropic.

On June 1, CNBC reported that SpaceX disclosed in a revised securities filing that up to 5% of the IPO shares will be allocated to a direct stock program. This program allows employees, customers, partners, and other designated individuals to purchase shares. The recipients will include 'specific employees and personnel,' with participation determined at the discretion of management. Those who acquire shares will be able to sell them immediately after the IPO.

Typically, in an IPO, initial shares are allocated primarily to large institutional investors. The direct stock program opens a portion of these shares to company insiders and customers. CNBC noted that companies like Airbnb, Uber, and Rivian have utilized similar programs during their IPO processes.

The scale of this IPO is unprecedented. CNBC estimates that SpaceX will raise about $750 billion from this listing. Earlier this year, Elon Musk indicated a company valuation of $1.25 trillion when he merged AI startup xAI with SpaceX. According to CNBC, only Facebook and Alibaba have surpassed a $100 billion valuation on their first day of trading on U.S. exchanges.

The IPO timeline is also approaching. SpaceX may hold an investor presentation as early as this week, with a potential Nasdaq listing on June 12. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are serving as lead underwriters, with Morgan Stanley managing the direct stock program.

The revised filing also included details about the AI computing lease with Anthropic. SpaceX is leasing computing capacity equivalent to approximately 325,000 NVIDIA GPUs to Anthropic at its Colossus and Colossus II facilities in Greater Memphis, Tennessee.

Under the agreement, Anthropic will pay SpaceX $1.25 billion per month until May 2029, following a two-month preparation period. However, the contract can be terminated by either party with 90 days' notice after the initial three months. This new information raises concerns that a contract, which could be a significant source of long-term AI revenue for SpaceX, may end within six months.

On the same day, Anthropic also announced that it had submitted a confidential IPO filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As both SpaceX and Anthropic pursue IPOs simultaneously, the sustainability of AI infrastructure investments and large computing contracts will likely become focal points for market evaluations.

* This article has been translated by AI.

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