SpaceX Storms Past $2 Trillion in Record $75 Billion Nasdaq Debut

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Wall Street's most anticipated launch finally cleared the tower

SpaceX shares closed at $161.11 on June 12, 2026, up nearly 20% from a $135 IPO price, vaulting the company's market value above $2 trillion in the most-watched stock market debut in years.fortune The Elon Musk-controlled rocket, satellite and AI company raised $75 billion by selling 555.6 million shares — more than double Saudi Aramco's 2019 record and nearly triple it in nominal terms — instantly making it the largest IPO in history.reuters +1 The debut also crowned Musk as the world's first trillionaire, lifting his net worth above $1 trillion as the stock peaked at $176.52 intraday.cnbc

A $2 trillion valuation built on a $4.9 billion loss

The numbers underpinning the valuation are unusual for a company of this size. SpaceX posted a $4.9 billion net loss in 2025 on $18.7 billion in revenue — most of it from the Starlink satellite business — yet the IPO priced the firm at roughly 94 times trailing revenue.fortune That made SpaceX the sixth-most valuable U.S. company on day one, ahead of Meta and Musk's own Tesla.fortune More than 500 million shares changed hands, dwarfing every other IPO this year, and the book ran roughly four times oversubscribed on more than $250 billion in orders.cnbc +1

Skeptics were vocal. Morningstar pegged fair value at $780 billion — about 55% below the IPO price — arguing that neither a rapidly reusable Starship nor commercially competitive orbital data centers has been demonstrated, and CFRA opened coverage with a sell rating.reuters +1 "This is not a name you're buying based on fundamentals," said Nancy Tengler of Laffer Tengler Investments, who likened SpaceX to early Amazon.reuters

Regulators bent rules, and rivals paid the price

The listing arrived wrapped in special dispensations. In a June 10 no-action letter to an industry lobbying group, the SEC said it would not pursue enforcement against brokerages that temporarily reduce the segregated cash reserves meant to protect customer funds — an exemption investor advocate Corey Frayer called unprecedented, noting some $70 billion in customer money faced intraday risk.jacobin Nasdaq separately fast-tracked SpaceX toward index inclusion in as little as 15 trading days, steering passive retirement money into the stock.jacobin +1

The debut rippled through the sector. Rival space stocks slid sharply as funds rotated in, with Rocket Lab and Redwire each down more than 10% and Planet Labs off 8%.reuters +1 Bankers framed the day as a dress rehearsal for a coming wave of AI mega-listings from Anthropic and OpenAI, the latter targeting a September debut at an $852 billion valuation.reuters +1 Whether SpaceX's blistering open holds — or fades like Aramco and Facebook did before recovering — will set the tone for that "IPO summer."fortune