SpaceX soared 28% in its Nasdaq debut on Friday, June 12, 2026, marking a historic milestone for the stock market as the company completed the largest initial public offering ever recorded. The space and communications firm priced 555.6 million shares at $135 each the night before, raising $75 billion at a $1.77 trillion valuation—more than triple the previous record set by Saudi Aramco’s $25.6 billion IPO in 2019.
Shares opened at $150 on Friday morning, an 11% jump above the IPO price, before climbing further throughout the trading session. Trading after midday pushed the company’s market capitalization above $2.25 trillion, instantly vaulting SpaceX into the ranks of the world’s most valuable publicly traded companies. The 28% intraday surge reflected extraordinary investor demand that had exceeded the offering by more than 4 times.
The stock market broadly embraced the debut. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% on the day, according to Reuters, as the SpaceX offering dominated trading activity. The IPO also made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, according to reports citing his increased net worth from the company’s valuation jump.
SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO dwarfed all previous offerings. Saudi Aramco, which held the previous record, raised approximately $25.6 billion in 2019 at a $1.7 trillion valuation—less than one-third the capital raised by SpaceX. The New York Times reported that SpaceX’s $75 billion raise nearly tripled the previous record, underscoring the scale of the transaction. The offering also surpassed mega-IPOs from Alibaba, Facebook, and other tech giants that had dominated public market debuts in recent decades.
Investor sentiment was overwhelmingly positive, though some analysts expressed caution about the valuation. Todd Schoenberger, chief investment officer at Crosscheck Management, told Reuters that while retail interest was “off the charts,” many investors appeared to be trading the stock rather than making long-term investment decisions. Walter Todd, chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital, called the $75 billion valuation and implied market cap “emblematic to me of excessive exuberance in the market,” though he acknowledged the IPO appeared successful on its opening day.
The IPO had been structured to maximize initial trading momentum. SpaceX allocated 30% of shares to retail investors, well above the typical 5-10% range, and the company’s relatively tight float—the number of shares available for public trading—helped support the stock price surge. Ben Ritchie, head of developed market equities at Aberdeen Investments, noted that the offering’s design gave it “the best possible chance” of achieving both a high valuation and strong first-day performance.
Nasdaq had changed its index inclusion rules specifically to accommodate SpaceX’s size. The exchange allowed mega-IPOs to join the Nasdaq-100 just 15 trading days after listing, down from the previous three-month waiting period. This rule change meant that index funds and ETFs tracking the Nasdaq-100 would be forced to purchase SpaceX shares automatically, providing additional buying pressure in the weeks following the debut.
The historic IPO arrives as a wave of mega-offerings approaches the market. Anthropic and OpenAI are also expected to pursue public listings in coming months, according to reports. Joe Maher, markets economist at Capital Economics, warned that blockbuster IPOs from SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI, combined with share sales by AI companies, “look set to unleash a wave of equity supply that will prove a major test for the stock market.” He noted that gross equity issuance tends to peak during stock market booms and that rising supply could eventually overwhelm investor demand.
Sources
- Reuters — SpaceX’s 28% debut gain, $75 billion IPO raise, $1.77 trillion valuation, opening price of $150, market cap above $2.25 trillion, Nasdaq and Dow performance, and analyst commentary
- The New York Times — Comparison of SpaceX’s IPO to Saudi Aramco and other historic offerings
- Bloomberg — Confirmation of $75 billion IPO and 555.6 million shares priced at $135
- CNBC — SpaceX’s closing price at $160.95, 19% one-day gain, and market cap figures
