SpaceX IPO Disclosure Row Shadows a Record $75 Billion Debut

A record debut followed by a swift reversal

SpaceX raised $75 billion in its June 12 Nasdaq debut — the largest IPO on record — pricing at $135 per share and surging 28% on day one to close at $160.95, implying a $2.1 trillion market capeconomymiddleeast. The euphoria lasted barely a week. On June 22, shares fell 16.43% to close at $154.60, erasing approximately $400.8 billion in market value in a single session — the second-largest one-day loss ever recorded by a U.S. company, per Dow Jones Market Dataeconomymiddleeast +1. Investors who bought after the first-day close are now sitting on paper losses.

The debt announcement that spooked markets

The selloff was triggered by SpaceX's plan to issue senior unsecured notes to raise capital and refinance existing debteconomymiddleeast. Proceeds will help repay a $20 billion bridge loan taken on to cover debt accumulated by its xAI uniteconomymiddleeast. The move confused investors because SpaceX had simultaneously disclosed $100.8 billion in cash — more than $85 billion of it raised through the IPO itselfeconomymiddleeast. The gap between that liquidity and the need to issue new debt sharpened questions about how xAI's balance sheet fits the broader entity.

What the S-1 left out

Before the IPO, SOC Investment Group — an adviser to union-affiliated pension funds — sent a letter to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins alleging material omissions in SpaceX's registration documentsbloombergtax. The group flagged the undisclosed departure of most of xAI's co-founders between February and late March, shortly after SpaceX acquired the AI startup for an implied $250 billionbloombergtax. Musk had publicly stated that xAI was "being rebuilt from the foundations up," yet no such language appeared in the amended S-1bloombergtax. SOC urged the SEC to require impairment testing on xAI assets — a step that would force recognition of any significant decline in the acquisition's recoverable valuebloombergtax.

Separate concerns surrounded the Anthropic compute-lease. SpaceX's prospectus valued it at $1.25 billion per month through May 2029, yet Musk posted on X that the deal was short-term with a mutual 90-day cancellation clausecnbc. Columbia Law School professor Eric Talley framed the problem: "Either Musk is correct and the S-1 is materially misleading, or the S-1 is correct and Elon is up to his old hijinx."cnbc

A trillion-dollar valuation under the microscope

SpaceX's AI unit recorded a $2.5 billion operating loss in the first quarter of 2026, with capital expenditures more than doubling year-over-year to $10.1 billion — $7.7 billion tied to xAIcnbc. A new deal with Reflection AI, expected to generate roughly $150 million per month starting in July, points to continued expansioneconomymiddleeast. The swift post-IPO selloff reflects the challenge of pricing an entity whose rocket and satellite businesses are capital-intensive while its AI ambitions remain unproven at scale. With OpenAI and Anthropic preparing their own offerings, how the SEC handles SpaceX's disclosures may set the bar for the next wave of AI-era mega-IPOsbloombergtax.