SpaceX Just Hit an All-Time High in Private-Market Trading — but History Stands Ready to Inject a Dose of Reality Although the benchmark S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) vaulted to new highs on May 8, this wasn’t the only history made on Wall…
reet last week. The stock market’s largest projected initial public offering (IPO), Elon Musk’s SpaceX, hit an all-time high on private market trading platform Forge Global, which was acquired in early March by Charles Schwab
The $634.05 closing price per share for SpaceX stock on Forge’s secondary marketplace represents a 215% increase over the trailing 12 months and values the company at $1.51 trillion. But the retail investor buzz surrounding SpaceX suggests Musk and underwriters could push for a $1.75 trillion to $2 trillion valuation and a $75 billion capital raise. For context, oil and gas giant Saudi Aramco currently holds the title of largest IPO, with a $29.4 billion capital raise in December 2019.
While it’s easy to get excited about a company at the forefront of two of the largest addressable markets on the planet, artificial intelligence (AI) and the space economy, history stands ready to inject a dose of reality. History implies a rude awakening for SpaceX IPO investors Statistically speaking, some of the stock market’s biggest IPOs in history have been duds after crossing the starting line. Including Saudi Aramco, which isn’t traded in the U.S., investors have witnessed several brand-name companies go public since the late 1990s, including Facebook (now Meta Platforms), General Motors, Alibaba Group, Visa, and United Parcel Service.