SpaceX priced its initial public offering at $135 per share Wednesday evening, establishing a $1.75 trillion valuation and clearing the path for a listing expected within five trading days. The price lands 18% below the $165 per share implied valuation in secondary transactions during the fourth quarter of 2024, when late-stage holders began liquidating positions ahead of the public float. Rocket Lab fell 7% in after-hours trading. Intuitive Machines dropped 15%.
The offering consists of 411 million shares, split between 287 million primary shares sold by the company and 124 million secondary shares from early employees and venture holders. SpaceX will collect approximately $38.7 billion in gross proceeds before underwriting fees, which Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have structured at 1.8% — half the typical rate for an issue of this scale. The company has not disclosed use of proceeds beyond "general corporate purposes," though three people familiar with the capital plan say $22 billion is earmarked for the Starship manufacturing complex in Boca Chica and $9 billion for Starlink ground-station expansion across equatorial latitudes.
The valuation compression reflects two realities. First, SpaceX generated $15 billion in revenue for the twelve months ending December 2024, according to a person who reviewed the confidential S-1 supplement. That figure implies a 117x price-to-sales multiple — defensible for a monopoly, excessive for a company that still burns cash on every Starship test flight. Second, the Federal Communications Commission finalized new orbital-debris regulations in January, requiring operators to fund $140 million per satellite constellation for end-of-life removal. SpaceX operates 6,200 active Starlink satellites. The liability sits off-balance-sheet until the first required filing in June 2026, but allocators are pricing it now.
The compression also explains the sector selloff. Rocket Lab and Intuitive Machines trade at 9x and 14x forward revenue, respectively. If SpaceX — with 63% of global launch mass and contractual leverage over NASA, the Pentagon, and seven foreign governments — cannot command a 150x multiple, the smaller orbital plays have no valuation floor. One hedge fund that holds both names cut its Rocket Lab position by 40% Thursday morning, according to a portfolio manager at the firm. The thesis was predicated on a SpaceX IPO that validated $2 trillion+ as the baseline for space infrastructure. That thesis is now being repriced.
Operators should track three follow-on events. First, the greenshoe option allows underwriters to sell an additional 61.7 million shares if demand warrants, which would push gross proceeds above $47 billion and trigger a new reference price for secondary holders. Second, the lock-up agreement expires 180 days post-listing for employees and 90 days for venture funds, meaning June and April will bring two waves of supply. Third, the company has telegraphed a $12 billion convertible debt offering for late Q2, with conversion pricing tied to the 30-day VWAP starting April 15. If the stock trades poorly, that converts at a discount. If it runs, the dilution is minimal but the interest expense is permanent.
The pricing does not reflect deterioration in SpaceX fundamentals. It reflects the market's refusal to underwrite a valuation that cannot be reconciled with measurable cash generation or a visible path to profitability in the next eighteen months. The company will list. The stock will trade. But the era of assigning trillion-dollar valuations to pre-profitable infrastructure companies on the assumption that scale alone justifies the multiple has ended without ceremony.