SpaceX submits application for a record $75 billion initial public offering as various conflicts of interest increase.

      SpaceX has quietly submitted documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to sell shares to the public, as reported by various sources familiar with the registration. This move sets the stage for what could be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history, likely making Elon Musk the first trillionaire in the world. The offering, referred to internally as Project Apex, could take place as early as June and aims to raise up to $75 billion, with a potential valuation of up to $1.75 trillion. This would more than double Saudi Aramco's $29 billion listing from 2019, which currently holds the record, and would place SpaceX's value at around 94 times its projected revenue for 2025.

      A total of 21 banks are lined up to manage this deal, with major firms like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Citigroup taking prominent roles, according to CNBC. Musk, who reportedly owns about 42 percent of SpaceX as per PitchBook, has a net worth currently estimated by Forbes at $823 billion. If the valuation reaches $1.75 trillion, his stake would be valued at more than $730 billion, surpassing the trillion-dollar mark and positioning him far ahead of any other individual in contemporary economic history.

      However, the company pursuing this IPO has evolved beyond just a space launch business. In February, SpaceX acquired Musk's artificial intelligence firm xAI in an all-stock deal, which valued the new entity at $1.25 trillion. This merger raised immediate concerns regarding optics, governance, and valuation, as it integrated a company reportedly losing around $1 billion monthly with one that generates significant cash flow. SpaceX also incorporated Musk's social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. This has resulted in a conglomerate that encompasses orbital launches, satellite internet, defense contracts, artificial intelligence, and social media, all managed by a single individual who is also the leading financial supporter of the current U.S. president.

      The key driver of this valuation is Starlink, the satellite internet service that has emerged as the most successful commercial space venture to date. In 2025, Starlink reported $10.6 billion in revenue while maintaining 54 percent EBITDA margins, contributing about two-thirds of SpaceX's total revenue of $16 billion. The subscriber base has surged from 10,000 beta users in 2021 to over 10 million paying customers in 150 countries by February 2026. Approval from the Federal Aviation Administration in January 2026 for up to 44 annual Starship launches has provided investors with the operational capacity necessary for endorsing a public valuation of this magnitude.

      The xAI segment of the entity going public, in contrast, remains a work in progress. Musk acknowledged in March that xAI was “not built right the first time around” and required a complete overhaul. Since the merger, all 11 original co-founders of xAI have left the company, including researchers previously employed at Google DeepMind, Google Brain, and Microsoft Research. Jimmy Ba, a co-author of the widely-cited Adam optimization paper in artificial intelligence, departed in February. Critics have labeled the merger as a financial rescue that allows xAI's growing losses to be subsidized by Starlink's cash flow ahead of the IPO, a characterisation Musk has disputed.

      The conflicts of interest tied to this offering are unprecedented in American financial markets. In the past five years, SpaceX has secured $6 billion in contracts from NASA, the Department of Defense, and other federal agencies, according to USAspending.gov. The company serves as NASA's primary launch provider for crewed missions to the International Space Station and holds over $4 billion in contracts related to the Artemis lunar-landing program. Reports suggest the Pentagon is preparing to award SpaceX a $2 billion contract to develop a 600-satellite constellation for missile tracking as part of the Golden Dome missile-defense initiative, a program revealed by Trump that would reportedly cost $175 billion and initiate operations within three years.

      Musk was the largest individual contributor to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and chaired the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a temporary organization that terminated over 10,000 federal contracts deemed wasteful, none of which affected Musk’s own ventures, as noted by ethics observers. Among SpaceX's current investors is Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, who holds shares via 1789 Capital, a venture firm that made him a partner shortly after his father’s second presidential victory. This fund, which has amassed over $1 billion in assets, invested roughly $50 million in SpaceX and xAI and has supported at least four companies that later received government contracts during the current administration. The White House has consistently denied any conflicts of interest between the presidency and the Trump family’s business dealings.

      The governance risks extend beyond political interactions. Under Musk, SpaceX has functioned as a private entity with minimal