SpaceX's initial public offering priced at $135 per share Thursday evening, locking in a $75 billion raise and a valuation near $1.75 trillion — the largest IPO in history. The stock is slated to begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX.
Record demand and a direct path to sell
Order books for the offering closed with reported demand near $150 billion, roughly double the shares available. To give certain buyers more flexibility, SpaceX set aside 5% of the IPO for a direct share program. Participants in that program can sell their stock immediately, bypassing the standard 180-day lockup that applies to most other holders.
Musk's long lockup vs. Alphabet's 100x windfall
Elon Musk, who controls roughly 40% of SpaceX, committed his entire stake to a 366-day lockup — meaning he can't sell a single share for over a year. Other large holders face shorter restrictions.
One of the biggest winners at the listing price is Alphabet. The Google parent paid about $900 million for its original stake in 2015. An Alaska state filing reported by Bloomberg earlier this year put Alphabet's stake at 6.11% as of late 2025, though the subsequent merger of SpaceX with xAI likely trimmed it to roughly 5%. At $135 per share, that stake is now worth between $87 billion and $100 billion — a paper gain of about 100 times.
Alphabet also has a major revenue relationship with SpaceX. Google agreed to pay SpaceX $920 million per month for AI computing power through June 2029, totaling roughly $30 billion.
Alphabet's capital puzzle
The gargantuan paper gain comes as Alphabet faces its own capital needs. The company has guided 2026 capital expenditures as high as $190 billion, while operating cash flow through March covered $174 billion. To bridge the gap, Alphabet raised $84.75 billion in equity, including an $18 billion share sale, $16.75 billion of convertible preferred stock, and a $40 billion at-the-market program. Berkshire Hathaway participated in a $10 billion private placement as part of that raise.
Alphabet's share count rose to 12.12 billion this quarter from 12.09 billion at the end of 2025 — the first increase since at least 2018, a sign of the aggressive fundraising.
What the lockup schedule means for day-one trading
Under the standard schedule, 20% of the IPO stake unlocks on the second trading day after the listing. That represents roughly $18 billion to $21 billion worth of shares that could hit the market as early as next week. Day-one selling is limited to the 5% direct share program; other holders are subject to the 180-day lockup.
The size of the early unlock has already drawn attention from traders watching for potential selling pressure.
An early investor prepares to exit
Chad Anderson, an early investor through his firm Space Capital, told reporters they plan to exit nearly a decade-long investment to return capital to investors. Space Capital was one of the first venture firms to back SpaceX. Anderson's move could signal what other early backers decide to do once their shares become free to trade.
