r/stocks Apr 1, 12:24 PM
SpaceX filed for the biggest IPO in history during a correction. Either brilliant timing or terrible timing. No in between. This would be the largest IPO in history by a significant margin. SpaceX is looking to raise $50 billion or more. For context, Saudi Aramco raised $25.6 billion at its 2019 listing. SpaceX is talking about doing twice that in a market that has been effectively frozen for mega deals for years.
I've been tracking the space sector and aerospace names on my stocks screener as I want to want to dig into the publicly traded names while waiting for this one... so, the timing is what makes this interesting.
The IPO market has been in a drought for a while. Rising rates, inflation fears, geopolitical chaos. Big listings kept getting pushed. The pipeline got bigger but nothing moved. 2026 was supposed to be the recovery year and so far it hasn't been.
SpaceX is either going to change that or confirm that the market still isn't ready.
The bull case is straightforward. Cult CEO following. High growth industry. Real revenue from Starlink. Government contracts from NASA and the DoD. No real competitor at scale. The retail enthusiasm alone would probably make this oversubscribed.
The bear case is more nuanced. One analyst put it well: SpaceX might be so singular, with its celebrity CEO and unique positioning, that a successful listing actually hurts other space stocks rather than lifting them. All the capital and attention flows into one name and everything else gets starved of oxygen.
There's also the market timing problem. This filing comes while the S&P 500 is in correction territory, oil is still 40% above pre-war levels, and inflation is running well above the Fed's target. That's not the environment where institutional allocators are lining up to absorb a $50 billion raise.
But as one banker put it: if any business can list in this market, it's probably SpaceX.
Curious what the community thinks. Does a $1.75 trillion SpaceX IPO actually get done in 2026 given where markets are right now? And do you think it opens the door for other mega IPOs or does it just vacuum up all available capital and leave everything else waiting another year?
submitted by /u/Smooth-Lawyer-8479
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