# The SpaceX IPO: The Biggest Stock Market Debut in History

> SpaceX goes public: 75 billion raised (record), a 1,770 billion valuation, but losses. We explain the IPO and what exposure means for a retail investor in France.

*Updated 2026-06-13*

## In short

- On 12 June 2026, SpaceX went public on the Nasdaq (ticker SPCX), raising 75 billion dollars, the biggest IPO in history, ahead of Saudi Aramco.
- Its valuation reaches about 1,770 billion dollars, but the company is still losing money overall (a 4.9 billion net loss in 2025): only Starlink is profitable.
- For someone in France, SpaceX is a US stock not eligible for the PEA (only via a brokerage account), and Elon Musk keeps 82.4 percent of the voting rights: economic exposure, but almost no power.

On 12 June 2026, SpaceX pulled off the biggest stock market debut ever seen: 75 billion dollars raised in a single day, more than double the previous record. Behind that headline number sit concepts that come up again and again in finance, plus one detail that could affect you even if you never buy a single SpaceX share. We unpack all of it, with no prior knowledge needed.

## First, what is an initial public offering?

### A share, in one sentence

A **share** (or stock) is a small piece of ownership in a company. If you own a SpaceX share, you own a tiny fraction of SpaceX. When the company gains value, so does your piece (and the other way around when it loses value).

### The initial public offering (IPO)

An **initial public offering** (IPO) is the day a previously private company puts some of its shares up for sale to the general public, on a stock market. Before, only a handful of carefully selected investors could hold them; afterwards, anyone (in theory) can buy some. A company mainly does this to **raise funds**, meaning to gather money to finance its projects.

If the stock market is new ground for you, the article [Getting Started Investing in 2026: PEA, ETFs and Mistakes to Avoid in Your 20s and 30s](/en/blog/getting-started-investing-2026-etf-mistakes) sets out the basics before going further.

## The key figures of the SpaceX IPO

### An all-time record

On 12 June 2026, SpaceX sold its shares to the public for the first time, at a price of **135 dollars per share**. In total, **555,555,555 shares** were put on the market, which brought the company around **75 billion dollars**[\[2\]](#source-2). That is, by far, **the biggest IPO ever carried out**: the previous record, held by oil giant Saudi Aramco in 2019, topped out at 29.4 billion dollars[\[3\]](#source-3).

### A dizzying valuation

The **valuation** (also called **market capitalization**) is the total value the stock market assigns to a company. You get it by multiplying the price of one share by the total number of shares. For SpaceX, this calculation gives about **1,770 billion dollars** (that is, 1.77 _trillion_, meaning 1,770 billion)[\[2\]](#source-2).

To give you an idea: that places SpaceX among the very largest US companies by size, around 7th place, ahead of Tesla[\[2\]](#source-2). On the day of the offering, the share closed the session at **161 dollars**, up **19 percent** from the starting price: investors piled in[\[1\]](#source-1).

| Data point                  | Figure                                                                   |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| IPO date                    | 12 June 2026[\[1\]](#source-1)                                           |
| Market and ticker           | Nasdaq, under the ticker SPCX[\[1\]](#source-1)                          |
| Offering price              | 135 dollars per share[\[2\]](#source-2)                                  |
| Shares sold                 | 555,555,555[\[2\]](#source-2)                                            |
| Amount raised               | 75 billion dollars (all-time record)[\[2\]](#source-2)[\[3\]](#source-3) |
| Valuation                   | about 1,770 billion dollars[\[2\]](#source-2)                            |
| Price at the end of day one | 161 dollars (+19 percent)[\[1\]](#source-1)                              |

## The most interesting angle: SpaceX joining the Nasdaq-100 index

### Being listed on the Nasdaq is not the same as being in the Nasdaq-100 index

Watch out for a vocabulary trap. The **Nasdaq** is the **marketplace** (the equivalent of a big market where shares are traded). Being "listed on the Nasdaq" just means SpaceX shares can be bought and sold there. That's different from the **Nasdaq-100**, which is an **index**: an index is a reference basket that groups certain shares together to track their overall movement. The Nasdaq-100 brings together the **100 largest companies** listed on the Nasdaq.

Why does that basket matter so much? Because very widespread financial products called **ETFs** (Exchange-Traded Funds, a type of **index fund**: a basket of shares that automatically copies an index and trades on the stock market like a share) aim to **replicate** the Nasdaq-100\. The best known is the **QQQ**. When you hold such an ETF, you actually hold a small piece of each of the index's 100 companies, without having to buy them one by one.

### Normally, a new company has to wait

Usually, a company that has just gone public doesn't join the index right away. It first has to "prove itself" during a waiting period, called **seasoning**, of around three months. It's a prudence rule: the idea is to wait for the share price to settle before adding it to an index tracked by millions of savers.

### The Nasdaq changed its rule to move faster

Except the Nasdaq changed that rule. A new rule called **"Fast Entry"**, effective 1 May 2026 after a public consultation that closed on 27 February 2026, lets a company large enough to rank in the index's **top 40** join after just **15 trading days**, instead of the usual three months[\[6\]](#source-6). Critics have nicknamed it **"Lex SpaceX"** (the "SpaceX law"), because SpaceX had made this fast entry a condition of where it chose to list[\[6\]](#source-6).

### The concrete consequence: you might hold it without choosing to

The result: SpaceX is expected to join the Nasdaq-100 around **7 July 2026**, 15 trading days after its 12 June debut[\[8\]](#source-8). At that point, anyone holding a Nasdaq-100 ETF (for instance through a savings plan, or a **401(k)** in the United States, the American equivalent of an employer retirement savings plan) will **automatically** hold a small piece of SpaceX, without having decided to[\[8\]](#source-8). Because the funds that replicate the index are worth around **600 billion dollars**, their inclusion forces a "mechanical" purchase of about **6 billion dollars** of SpaceX shares, simply to match the index's composition[\[8\]](#source-8).

### A change that isn't universally welcomed

This accelerated entry is contested. Large pension funds (CalPERS in California, the State of New York, the City of New York) have criticized SpaceX's **governance** (the way decision-making power is shared out): Elon Musk holds about 42 percent of the capital but the majority of the voting rights thanks to shares carrying 10 votes each, and he can only be removed by holders of shares he himself controls. According to these funds, it is the "most management-friendly" structure ever brought to the US market[\[6\]](#source-6). By contrast, the **S&P 500** index (the other major US reference basket, which groups 500 large companies) **refused**, in early June 2026, to change its own rules. So SpaceX is **not** being fast-tracked into the S&P 500[\[7\]](#source-7).

### And for a saver in France?

One important nuance: these ETFs that replicate the Nasdaq-100 contain US stocks, and are generally **not eligible for the PEA** (the French wrapper reserved for European securities). Exposure to the index therefore usually goes through an **ordinary brokerage account**, an ETF held inside a life insurance contract, or a savings product that replicates the index. In other words, the "automatic purchase" mechanism described above mainly concerns holders of those funds, not just any French saver by default.

## What it changes (and doesn't change) for a retail investor

### You can hold a piece, but without really swaying decisions

Here's a point many beginner investors overlook. SpaceX has set up what are called **dual-class shares**. In practice, there are two types of shares that don't carry the same voting power:

* the **Class A** shares, the ones sold to the public, carry **1 vote** each on important decisions;
* the **Class B** shares, held by Elon Musk, carry **10 votes** each[\[2\]](#source-2).

The result is striking: Elon Musk owns about **42 percent of the capital** (of the company's value), but controls **82.4 percent of the voting rights**[\[2\]](#source-2). In other words, by buying a SpaceX share, you get **economic exposure** (you benefit from the rises, you take the falls), but **almost no power** over how the company is run. The major direction stays in the hands of a single person.

### The paradox: an enormous valuation, but losses

You might think a company valued at 1,770 billion dollars necessarily makes a lot of money. It doesn't. In 2025, SpaceX posted **revenue** (its total sales) of **18.7 billion dollars**, but recorded a **net loss** (what's left once all expenses are paid) of **4.9 billion dollars**[\[2\]](#source-2). Since it was founded in 2002, the company has even racked up **41.3 billion dollars in losses**[\[2\]](#source-2).

How to explain this gap? A stock market valuation doesn't only reward today's profits, but also **tomorrow's promises**: investors bet on future growth. That's a bet, not a certainty.

### Starlink is profitable, but the whole is in the red

Not all of SpaceX's activities are equal. **Starlink**, the satellite internet service, is the **only profitable segment**: it generated **4.4 billion dollars in operating income**, with an **operating margin of 39 percent**[\[2\]](#source-2). The **operating margin** is the share of every euro of sales that's left once operating costs are paid: 39 percent is very comfortable.

The problem is that the other activities are expensive. Developing the giant **Starship** rocket swallows considerable sums, and the company merged in February 2026 with **xAI**, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company (behind the Grok AI and the social network X, formerly Twitter)[\[2\]](#source-2)[\[4\]](#source-4). This combined entity is valued at around 1,250 billion dollars, but xAI alone lost **6.4 billion dollars in 2025**[\[2\]](#source-2). The funds raised will go precisely toward financing Starlink's expansion, Starship production, xAI infrastructure and government contracts[\[2\]](#source-2).

## How someone in France could get exposure (and why to stay cautious)

### Not in a PEA: only through a brokerage account

SpaceX is a US company. Yet the **PEA (Plan d'Épargne en Actions, France's equity savings plan)**, the wrapper French beginners favor for its tax advantage, only accepts European securities. A US stock like SpaceX is therefore **not eligible** for it. To get exposure, you'd have to go through an **ordinary brokerage account (compte-titres ordinaire, or CTO)**, a more flexible wrapper but with no particular tax advantage. Some brokers also let you buy **fractional shares** (a small slice, when the price of a whole share is too high). To understand the difference between these two wrappers, read [PEA or Brokerage Account: Which Should You Choose When Starting Out?](/en/blog/pea-vs-brokerage-account-which-to-choose).

### The risks to keep in mind

Beyond the PEA, several factors call for caution, especially for someone just starting out:

* **A very high valuation against losses.** The market is paying today for future promises. If those promises don't materialize at the hoped-for pace, the share price can drop.
* **Total control by a single person.** With 82.4 percent of the voting rights, Elon Musk decides almost alone. Public shareholders have almost no way to influence governance[\[2\]](#source-2).
* **The volatility of a new listing.** A freshly listed share can swing sharply both ways during the first few months, while the market settles on a balance price.

## In summary

SpaceX's IPO is a historic event by its size: 75 billion dollars raised, a valuation of nearly 1,770 billion. But behind the records, the reality is more nuanced: a single activity (Starlink) is profitable, the whole is losing money, and Elon Musk keeps almost all the decision-making power. For a beginner investor in France, it's above all an excellent case study to understand key concepts (share, valuation, voting rights, profitability) rather than an invitation to rush in.

_This article is informational and does not constitute investment advice. It is neither a recommendation to buy nor a recommendation to sell. Investing carries a risk of capital loss, particularly on an individual stock recently brought to market. To assess your situation and the risk, refer to the [AMF savers' area](https://www.amf-france.org/fr/espace-epargnants)._

## Key takeaways

- An initial public offering (IPO) is the moment a private company sells some of its shares to the general public for the first time, to raise funds.
- SpaceX raised 75 billion dollars at 135 dollars per share: an all-time record, and the share closed its first session at 161 dollars (+19 percent).
- A valuation (market capitalization) mainly reflects promises of future growth, not current profits: SpaceX is worth 1,770 billion but loses money.
- Thanks to dual-class shares, Elon Musk holds 42 percent of the capital but 82.4 percent of the voting rights: public shareholders have little power.
- In France, SpaceX is not PEA-eligible: you need an ordinary brokerage account, and should keep the risks in mind (high valuation, losses, one-man control, volatility).

## FAQ

### Can someone in France buy SpaceX shares in a PEA?

No. SpaceX is a US company, and the PEA (France's equity savings plan, reserved for European securities) won't accept it. To get exposure, you'd have to go through an ordinary brokerage account (CTO), which gives access to US stocks but without the PEA's tax advantage.

### Do I already own SpaceX if I hold an ETF?

It depends on the ETF (the index fund you hold). If it's an ETF that replicates the Nasdaq-100, like the QQQ, then yes: from the moment SpaceX joins the index (expected around 7 July 2026), a small slice of SpaceX automatically ends up in your fund[\[8\]](#source-8). In France, these US ETFs are generally not eligible for the PEA; check your ETF's exact composition in its information document.

### Why is SpaceX worth so much when it's losing money?

In 2025, SpaceX posted 18.7 billion dollars in sales but lost 4.9 billion[\[2\]](#source-2). A stock market valuation mainly reflects expectations of future growth (Starlink, Starship, artificial intelligence), not just current results. It's a bet on the future, and therefore uncertain.

### If I buy a SpaceX share, do I get a say in the company?

Very little. Because of the dual-class shares, Elon Musk holds about 42 percent of the capital but 82.4 percent of the voting rights[\[2\]](#source-2). A public shareholder gets an economic stake in the company, but almost no decision-making power over its governance.

### What is the Nasdaq's "Fast Entry" rule?

It's a new fast-entry rule from the Nasdaq, in force since 1 May 2026\. It lets a company large enough to rank in the Nasdaq-100 index's top 40 join after just 15 trading days, instead of the usual waiting period of around three months[\[6\]](#source-6). Critics have nicknamed it "Lex SpaceX", because SpaceX had made it a condition of where it chose to list.

### Is SpaceX also joining the S&P 500?

No, not on a fast track. In early June 2026, the S&P 500 index (which groups 500 large US companies) refused to change its own rules to speed up SpaceX's entry[\[7\]](#source-7). The fast entry therefore only concerns the Nasdaq-100, not the S&P 500.

## Sources

1. [SpaceX shares soar in record-breaking market debut](https://www.npr.org/), NPR
2. [SpaceX prices the largest IPO in history](https://www.cnbc.com/), CNBC
3. [SpaceX listing tops Saudi Aramco as biggest-ever IPO](https://www.bloomberg.com/), Bloomberg
4. [SpaceX Form S-1 Registration Statement](https://www.sec.gov/), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
5. [Savers' area](https://www.amf-france.org/fr/espace-epargnants), Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF)
6. [Lex SpaceX: Nasdaq changes index rules for Musk's IPO](https://www.heise.de/en/background/Lex-SpaceX-Nasdaq-changes-index-rules-for-Musk-s-IPO-11308935.html), heise
7. [SpaceX blocked from early U.S. benchmark index entry as S&P reaffirms existing rules](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/05/spacex-blocked-from-early-us-benchmark-index-entry-as-sp-reaffirms-existing-rules.html), CNBC
8. [SpaceX IPO could hit popular index funds and your 401(k) in as little as 5 trading days](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/spacex-ipo-could-hit-popular-101500534.html), Yahoo Finance