Hello,
The SpaceX IPO roadshow begins today, June 4. The company is seeking to raise up to $75 billion in what would be the largest initial public offering in history, targeting a Nasdaq listing under the ticker SPCX on June 12, with pricing on June 11.
The Downlink will produce an episode on June 12, the day SpaceX lists on the Nasdaq. Chris Quilty of Quilty Space, George Pullen of MilkyWayEconomy, and Lou Whiteman of the Motley Fool will join me to break down what the IPO means for the space sector.
What is an IPO Roadshow?
It’s about hype. It’s about buzz. It’s about lipstick.
For this invitation-only marketing tour, the job of the SpaceX executive team and the company’s underwriters —investment banks — is to convince the invitees — institutional and very wealthy individual investors — that SPCX is a security that they will regret not having a lot of in their portfolios.
“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great—and that’s what being a space-faring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”—Elon Musk
The investment banks — in order to get a read on how to price the security — will invite these hand-picked investors to submit confidential, non-binding orders. These orders will state exactly how many shares an investor will want to buy and what price-per-share they are willing to pay. The information derived from these orders reveals to the underwriters what the market should be willing to pay, and usually sets the price of the security.
If there are more orders than shares, the company and underwriters will dictate the maximum price. If investors place few orders, or represent a willingness to place more orders at a lower price, then the IPO team usually decides to reduce the initial share price to something sellable.
But “should” and “usually” are words rarely associated with the SPCX IPO.
Spiking the ball
On Tuesday, June 2, two days before the roadshow began, Reuters reported that SpaceX’s founder and CEO, Elon Musk is insisting on setting the share price at $135. If that is truly the case, then you might wonder, why would investors waste their time attending the roadshow with a non-negotiable “take-it, or leave it” initial pricing scheme.
Curiosity? The roadshow is an opportunity for these invite-only investors to get a good stiff cocktail and some ground truth, face-to-face, from the SpaceX executive team and the underwriters. According to the SEC, if the company or the underwriters present misleading facts or figures during the roadshow, the SEC could impose fines and penalties.
Questions that should be asked
1. Why is SpaceX going public right now?
Elon Musk maintained for at least a decade that he had no desire or need to take SpaceX public. The S-1 tells a different story. The company entered a technical default on its main loan agreement on the same day it completed the xAI merger — February 2, 2026. A syndicate of lenders led by Goldman Sachs — also one of the lead underwriters on this IPO — stepped in with a $20 billion bridge loan maturing September 2027. The EchoStar spectrum deal, closing November 2027, requires roughly $19.6 billion in stock and cash. And the AI business is burning through capital at roughly $30 billion a year.
Is this IPO a celebration? Or is it driven by debt-related deadlines?
2. What exactly is the business?
The S-1 reveals three business segments: Space, which covers rockets and launch; Connectivity, which is Starlink; and AI, which includes xAI, Grok, and X. Investors buying SPCX on June 12 are buying all three, which means despite Starlink’s profitability, this combined company lost more than $2.5 billion in 2025.
But wait. There’s more. CNBC reported on May 26 that Musk intends for SpaceX to buy Tesla. What’s next? Neuralink and The Boring Company?
3. How does Musk rate retail investors?
Musk’s plan is for SpaceX to issue 555.6 million Class A shares at $135 per share in order to raise $75 billion. Underwriters have the option to purchase an additional 83.3 million Class A shares for $11.2 billion.
While each of those Class A shares will represent one vote, together they will represent just 17.6% of shareholder voting power. After the offering, because Musk will personally own Class B shares, at 10 votes per share, Musk will still control 82.4% of the vote.
Voting power matters because according to the amended S-1, SpaceX “may issue a significant amount of equity in connection with future transactions.” In plain language, that could put shareholders’ positions at risk to value dilution without enough voting power to stop the transaction.
What’s in this episode
While SpaceX dominates the headlines, the satellites that actually defend America still need to get built and delivered, at spec and on time. Peter Krauss, President and CEO of Terran Orbital, says the key requisite for deploying and maintaining large constellations will be designing for manufacturability.
Terran Orbital is a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense prime contractor, which is no stranger to employing assembly-line production systems. But in space, assembly-line manufacturing is not the norm.
Krauss said that in order to fulfill Terran Orbital’s contract to build satellite buses for the Space Development Agency’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture — PWSA — the missile-tracking constellation at the center of America’s space defense strategy, and other contracts at an affordable price point, he had to shake things up.
“You bring all that big prime culture into what you consider to be your non-traditional company. So everything you were desperately trying not to be — you actually hire and become.” — Peter Krauss
In this episode Krauss talks about how he used his non-aerospace background to disrupt the company he now leads; and how “schedule is king,” driving decisions and separating winners from losers.
The episode is available here and on all major podcast platforms.
Who’s in the episode
Peter Krauss — President and CEO, Terran Orbital, a Lockheed Martin company
Reading
SpaceX IPO
"Morningstar values SpaceX at $780 billion, half its IPO target" — Niket Nishant, Reuters via Yahoo Finance, June 2, 2026
“Could a SpaceX-Tesla merger be on the horizon?” — CNBC, May 26, 2026
“If Elon Musk merges SpaceX with Tesla he’ll create a $3.4 trillion behemoth — with zero profits” — Shawn Tully, Fortune, May 31, 2026
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SPCX) — SEC Filing Page — Securities and Exchange Commission
SpaceX Amended S-1 — Securities and Exchange Commission, June 1, 2026
New SpaceX-Space Force Contracts
“U.S. Space Force Advances Space Data Network Backbone for Global Warfighter Connectivity” — Space Systems Command, May 26, 2026
“U.S. Space Force Accelerates Fielding Space-Based Airborne Target Indicator Program” — Space Systems Command, May 29, 2026
Other interesting bits and pieces
“Hackers breach senior US Space Force official’s Instagram account and post Iranian propaganda” — Sean Lyngaas and Zachary Cohen, CNN, June 1, 2026
"NASA abandons 'core module' concept for commercial space station development" — Jeff Foust, SpaceNews, June 2, 2026
"China launches debut mission of Falcon 9-like rocket with no advance notice" — Mike Wall, Space.com, June 2, 2026
“Tampa space company to build floating launchpads for Firefly, Vaya rockets” — Rick Neale, Florida Today, June 2, 2026
Ad Astra! Laura
AI-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT: This text was produced using automated speech recognition. Technical terminology may contain inaccuracies. This is provided for accessibility and is not a verbatim record. Please refer to audio for the definitive version.
