SpaceX set to surge past $2.8 trillion valuation in Wall Street debut

SpaceX was on course to blow past $US2 trillion ($2.84 trillion) in market valuation in its Nasdaq debut on Friday (US time), reflecting the frenzy for the Elon Musk-led company and putting it on track to become the sixth-largest publicly listed company in the United States.

Shares were indicated to open around $US175 ($248) a share, or about a 30 per cent jump from its $US135 ($191) IPO price, setting the stage for a blockbuster opening for the world’s biggest IPO.

Days of hoopla around the debut now turn to what will be one of the biggest tests of Wall Street’s trading infrastructure in years, with exchanges, market makers and underwriters bracing for extraordinary order volumes after the company sold $US75 billion in shares, immediately valuing it at $US1.77 trillion, making it one of the largest US companies.

Exchanges and trading firms are keen to avoid the technical mishaps that marred Meta’s 2012 debut. With SpaceX widely viewed as a dress rehearsal for a new generation of mega-listings, market participants will also be watching for signals on investor appetite ahead of forthcoming IPOs for AI heavyweights Anthropic and OpenAI.

Shares will likely not trade until the middle of the trading day, as the exchange collects buy and sell orders and underwriters delay trading until supply and demand is balanced.

“We would expect SpaceX to see an immediate pop in trading due to the hype around the deal, north of 20 per cent perhaps,” said Samuel Kerr, global head of equity capital markets at Mergermarket. “Anything lower would actually make me nervous.”

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen rang the Nasdaq opening bell at 9.30am on Friday New York time (11.30pm Thursday AEST).

The landmark listing cemented Musk’s status as the first trillionaire ever and propelled SpaceX into the ranks of the world’s most valuable companies – even though the firm posted a loss of nearly $5 billion last year and generated only a fraction of the revenue brought in by similarly valued tech giants.

Speaking in Texas, shortly before the opening bell, Musk reiterated his lofty goals “to make life multi-planetary”.

“Not just a few astronauts, I mean literally you,” Musk said. “Whoever you are watching this, SpaceX wants to be able to take you to the moon, take you to Mars and ultimately beyond.”

He added: “I gave SpaceX a 10 per cent chance of succeeding at all.”

The stock’s performance will also be a test for the so-called “Musk premium”, which has been the force behind Tesla’s $1 trillion-plus valuation, despite coming under pressur