SpaceX’s initial public offering is likely to boost the company’s valuation to $1.77 trillion, promote CEO Elon Musk to trillionaire status — and benefit the Seattle area’s space community as well.
The $75 billion IPO, which will add SpaceX to the Nasdaq stock exchange, is expected to be the biggest initial public offering in history. It’ll provide more capital for expanding SpaceX’s satellite networks and putting the company’s Starship mega-rocket into operation. Shareholders, including some of the hundreds of SpaceX employees in the Seattle area, could get a golden opportunity to cash in.
There could also be a payoff for Pacific Northwest space ventures that are banking on the lower launch costs and higher payload capacity SpaceX is promising to deliver.
“The reality is that SpaceX is the elephant in the room — and for a real reason, which is that they’ve got the lowest cost of launch and will continue to do so when Starship is up and running,” said Brendan Wales, general partner at Fuse, a Seattle-based venture capital firm. “So, whether SpaceX is successful or not, it is very impactful on Seattle startups.”
