On June 12, SpaceX turned one of Wall Street’s hottest listings into a full-blown market event.
Investors were bracing for a choppy debut, given its enormous valuation, heavy Musk premium, and questions about whether a rocket-and-satellite company could justify AI-stock-style pricing
Instead, SpaceX’s IPO landed with force, raising $75 billion and jumping almost 20% in its first day of trading, according to CNBC. Naturally, that switched up the math for one of Elon Musk’s most loyal backers. Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest had already built SpaceX into the biggest holding in its internal venture fund, adding exposure before the public market had a chance to bid up the story.
Investors kept debating over SpaceX being expensive, but Wood was already positioned for the pop. Now, the IPO’s aftermath turns her risky Musk bet into a major validation. Why SpaceX’s IPO changes the math for Cathie Wood SpaceX’s IPO essentially turns Cathie Wood’s long-running Elon Musk thesis from a private-market bet into a public-market scorecard.