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When SpaceX makes it debut on the stock exchange later this year, experts expect it to be the largest public offering in financial history. Should that audacious prediction come to pass, it would widen Elon Musk’s lead over the next-richest person into an unfathomable chasm, and cement him as one of the most powerful men in modern history.
It’s also sounding like the financial maneuver will give him an ironclad grip over the resulting empire, which includes xAI and X-formerly-Twitter. According to an IPO prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and unpacked by Reuters, once the company goes public, Musk will serve as CEO, CTO, and chairman of SpaceX’s nine-seat board of directors.
The company will pursue a dual-class equity structure, under which legacy investors like Musk will receive 10 votes each, while public shareholders only get one. In other words, Musk’s mammoth slice of the pie — though it only adds up to 42 percent of the company — will give him a stranglehold over the behemoth aerospace enterprise.
Given the equity Musk already holds — he bought $1.4 billion in stock last year alone — he stands to make billions once the shares debut on the market (SpaceX is said to be targeting a whopping $1.75 trillion valuation, coupled with a $75 billion fundraise, according to Reuters.)
Shareholders sweetened the pot even further with Musk’s latest pre-IPO compensation package, which includes a reward of 60 million in shares. In order to claim the prize, however, SpaceX will need to check two boxes: the company will have to reach a valuation of $6.6 trillion, and will have to fulfill Musk’s fantasy of putting a data center in space.
While the first stipulation could satisfy itself in today’s topsy-turvey stock market, the second task will take some doing — if it’s even possible in the first place.
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