It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, December 22, 2025
Trump’s Treasury Goon Tramples on Decades-Old Tradition
Laura Esposito Sun, December 21, 2025 THE DAILY BEAST
Bessent, 63, has MAGA-ified what was once a traditionally non-partisan role, dozens of former and current Treasury officials warned in a Washington Post report published Sunday. The cabinet member has emerged as one of Trump’s top attack dogs, attending political rallies and going after his political enemies with words—and, at times, fists.
“There’s a standard of decorum that’s traditionally applied to the treasury secretary that they are ignoring completely. That’s par for the course for the Trump administration,” one former Republican administration official told the outlet.
“But it’s particularly jarring when it comes to the Cabinet officer who most presidents have wanted to keep out of politics.”
Trump has said that Bessent will help usher in a
Bessent, who rose to prominence in MAGA as a guest on Steven Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, has amplified the president’s often misleading claims in a role that oversees domestic and international financial, economic, and tax policies.
For example, the secretary—who made history as the first openly gay man to hold the position—repeated Trump’s inaccurate claim that “$20 trillion” in foreign investment has already flooded into the country this year during a Fox News interview.
And in November, when defending inflation, the multimillionaire bizarrely told Meet the Press anchor Kristen Welker: “I can tell you that the Council of Economic Advisers have studied. You know the best way to bring your inflation rate down? Move from a blue state to a red state.”
“Folks on Wall Street and finance ministries around the world, they know that effusive praise and displays of loyalty are just table stakes for any Trump Cabinet officer,” one former aide in a Republican White House told the Post. “What causes concern is when the treasury secretary makes public statements about the U.S. economy that are extremely partisan and factually untrue.”
Investors also told the Post that nonpartisan government memos they receive ahead of government auctions now include political messaging under Bessent.
“In just a short six months, the administration has made extensive progress to enact an agenda that will bring prosperity to all Americans,” one such document from November reportedly reads.
Like his boss, Bessent has also made plenty of political enemies among Democrats.
“I had plenty of differences with Steven Mnuchin. But Mnuchin and I worked constructively on a lot of big stuff,” Sen. Ron Wyden, the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, told the Post, referring to Trump’s treasury secretary during his first term.
He added: “I’ve always gotten along with treasury secretaries—except this one.”
Bessent, who in the ’90s advised billionaire Trump foe George Soros on finances, also took aim at Sen. Elizabeth Warren after she told U.S. banks not to finance Trump’s massive financial support package for Argentina.
“She is an American Peronist. And the only thing she enjoys more than wasting your tax dollars is our nation’s time,” Bessent wrote in a post on X viewed 2.4 million times, referring to an Argentine ruler who favored the working class.
“While she remains mostly focused on singing ‘Don’t Cry for Me Massachusetts’ and voting against paying government workers, @SenWarren has somehow also found the recent bandwidth to threaten large banks on their lending policies,” he added.
“Senator, come in off the balcony, stop raging against one of our great Latin American allies, and vote to reopen the government.”
In response, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts senator told the Post: “Bessent should focus on bringing costs down for American families and ensuring Wall Street does not crash our economy once again.”
Bessent’s foes aren’t limited to other political parties. In June, the South Carolina native made headlines for a West Wing brawl with Tesla billionaire Elon Musk that was broken up by several bystanders, according to reports at the time.
Elon Musk in the Oval Office, alongside Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. / Allison Robbert/Getty Images
Months later, Bessent threatened to punch the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency in the face after hearing rumors that he was trash-talking him to the president.
“Why the f--- are you talking to the president about me? F--- you,” Bessent reportedly told the fellow Trump appointee, according to Politico. “I’m gonna punch you in your f------ face.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Department of Treasury for comment. In a statement, a spokesperson told the Post: “The markets strongly disagree with any assertion that Secretary Bessent is a partisan actor. Throwing rocks from inside a glass house is ill-advised, and given the consistently absurd left-wing partisanship of The Washington Post it is no surprise that Jeff Bezos has had to waste hundreds of millions of dollars in an attempt to save this rapidly sinking ship.”
Elizabeth Warren Says Making A 'Math Mistake' Shouldn't Cost A 'Fortune,' As Senator Touts Her New Law That Helps Push Back If IRS Gets It Wrong
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced that her bipartisan IRS Math Act has officially been signed into law, aimed at simplifying tax filing and boosting transparency for American taxpayers. A ‘Math Mistake’ Shouldn’t Cost You A Fortune
On Thursday, in a post on X, Warren said that her new bill ensures that a “math mistake” in tax filings does not cost taxpayers “a fortune or hours of work.”
The legislation essentially mandates the Internal Revenue Service to explain where a filer made an error on their return and provide instructions on how to challenge it, if necessary.
“For years, even making a small math mistake on your taxes turned into a terrible headache,” Warren said in a video accompanying the post. “The IRS would tell you your return was wrong, but they wouldn't tell you where you went wrong, and they sure wouldn't tell you how to fix it.”
Warren described her bill as a common-sense reform that saves Americans time and money. “That means no more spending a fortune on lawyers or hours trying to find errors in tax returns.”
Making a math mistake on your taxes shouldn't cost you a fortune or hours of work.
That's why my bipartisan IRS MATH Act that was just signed into law makes sure you know where you made a mistake and how to push back if the IRS got it wrong. pic.twitter.com/AHqSBA6Enz
Impact On Tax Prep Stocks
Leading tax prep firm, H&R Block Inc. (NYSE:HRB), was down 1.52% on Thursday, and is flat after hours, while its competitor in this space, Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU), was up 1.23%, and is down 0.26% overnight.
It remains unclear whether the legislation influenced the stock moves. However, both companies have a long track record of lobbying against efforts to simplify tax filing, such as the IRS Free File program and other direct filing proposals over the years.
According to federal disclosures, Intuit spent nearly $3.8 million on lobbying in 2024, while H&R Block reported $3.1 million in lobbying expenditures.
Exclusive-Trump appointee inspired by conservative media outlet to push for probe of Democratic congressman
REUTERS Sat, December 20, 2025
U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) attends a House Judiciary Committee hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel (not pictured), on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 17, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
By Chris Prentice and Marisa Taylor
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - A mortgage fraud probe of a Democratic congressman began last month after William Pulte, the Republican head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, referred allegations from a conservative news site to his agency’s inspector general for possible criminal investigation, government emails seen by Reuters show.
On November 12, The Gateway Pundit published an article alleging U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell had improperly listed his Washington, D.C., home as his “principal residence” on mortgage paperwork. Swalwell, a critic of President Donald Trump who represents a Northern California district and is now running for governor of California, an office that requires residency in that state, has said he is a permanent resident of California. According to loan documents, however, Swalwell had listed his home in Washington as his "principal residence."
An email reviewed by Reuters shows Pulte sent a link to the article to the FHFA’s acting inspector general that day, urging him to take all appropriate action "including - if warranted -engagement with the Department of Justice regarding potential mortgage, tax or other fraud related to the representations made in mortgage documents or other items in the below article."
That same day, Pulte also referred the issue to the Justice Department, said a source familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The FHFA and Pulte did not respond to requests for comment. Pulte has previously defended the initiative, saying mortgage fraud undermines the U.S. housing market.
Ethics experts have criticized Pulte’s tactics in seeking to target individuals for mortgage misstatements, historically rare prosecutions.
TheGateway Pundit contributor who wrote the article said he is "happy to see more coverage" of the issue. A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment.
Banks generally offer lower interest rates to principal residences when compared to vacation homes or investment properties, allowing owners to save money on mortgage payments.
REFERRAL FITS BROADER PATTERN
The allegation against Swalwell echoes those Pulte has leveled against several prominent Democrats and public officials, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff of California and Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook. All have come under sharp fire from Trump, a Republican, in his fierce campaign against perceived opponents.
"This has been part of the broader pattern of the politicization of the Department of Justice. It’s highly unethical to try to go after political enemies like this," said Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under former Republican President George W. Bush.
"It's an abuse of public office and an abuse of public trust."
A congressional watchdog this month said it will open a probe to examine if Pulte abused his authority as he circumvented the FHFA's traditional investigative process in what critics say are politically motivated attacks.
The FHFA office of inspector general typically investigates mortgage fraud and refers matters to criminal prosecutors as needed, but Reuters previously reported Pulte has bypassed that office in making such referrals.
The communications between Pulte and the FHFA OIG were obtained by Democracy Forward, a legal organization with prominent Democrats on its board, and reviewed by Reuters.
Swalwell in late November pushed back, suing Pulte and the agency for violating his privacy in retrieving his mortgage records and for retaliating against him for exercising his First Amendment rights.
In the lawsuit, Swalwell has said that he is a permanent resident of California and "disclaimed any intent to occupy the District of Columbia home as his primary residence in a sworn affidavit attached to his mortgage agreement."
"Trump and his team's allegations against me are nonsense,” Swalwell told Reuters in a statement. "Pulte’s newly revealed conduct only reinforces why I brought this case. I intend to see it through."
A federal judge has dismissed a fraud case against New York Attorney General Letitia James that emerged from Pulte's referral, and two subsequent grand juries have declined to indict her again. James and the other targets of Pulte’s mortgage fraud campaign have denied wrongdoing.
(Reporting by Chris Prentice and Marisa TaylorAdditional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; editing by Diane Craft)
Legendary rock star goes off on Trump: ‘Disgusting human being’
Lauren Musni Sat, December 20, 2025
Famous singer, songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews took to his band’s TikTok page on Thursday to make a few critical remarks about Donald Trump.
The six-minute video features Matthews walking around Brooklyn, New York, where he says he’s visiting family.
“There’s little evidence to support their actions,” he says in the video. “And pretending its all the fake drugs but really it’s a way to claiming a war against Venezuela so we can steal their oil.”
James Talarico says the biggest ‘welfare queens’ in America are ‘the giant corporations that don’t pay a penny in income taxes’
Dave Smith Sat, December 20, 2025 FORTUNE
State Representative James Talarico, a Democrat from Texas and US Senate candidate, during a campaign event in Houston, Texas, US, on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025.
James Talarico, a 36-year-old former public school teacher and current Texas State Representative, is mounting a 2026 U.S. Senate campaign that challenges conventional wisdom about government spending and corporate responsibility. He represents a growing push to scrutinize corporate tax strategies and reframe the debate around who truly benefits from government support. His arguments about tax avoidance by Fortune 500 companies and wealthy executives are gaining traction among young voters and may influence future tax policy discussions if he gains higher office.
During a recent taping of Jubilee Media’s web series Surrounded at the company’s Los Angeles studios, Talarico sat down with roughly 20 undecided Texas voters to debate his policy positions. The episode, which released on Monday, caught fire on social media after Talarico delivered a pointed reframing of conservative rhetoric about welfare spending. In a sharp challenge to long-standing political talking points about “welfare queens”—a term traditionally used to disparage low-income individuals receiving government benefits—Talarico flipped the script, arguing that the nation’s actual dependency on public resources flows upward, not downward.
“The biggest welfare queens in this country are the giant corporations that don’t pay a penny in federal taxes,” he said. He also extended his critique to include wealthy executives, adding “the biggest welfare queens are the CEOs who get a tax deduction for flying on a private jet.”
Corporate tax avoidance as hidden welfare
Talarico’s argument strikes at a real issue: Some of America’s largest corporations have legally structured their tax arrangements to minimize or eliminate federal income tax liability. This practice has drawn scrutiny from policymakers across the political spectrum and sparked ongoing debates about tax code reform. So, rather than accepting that welfare is primarily a lower-income issue, he argues the problem is systemic and benefits the wealthy.
Talarico said his background as a middle school language arts teacher at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio informed many of his policy positions.
“I was a public school teacher, so I saw how when kids showed up hungry, they couldn’t learn,” he told local ABC affiliate KSAT in October. “Even my brightest students, even my hardest working students couldn’t succeed. Couldn’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps when they didn’t have boots.”
To illustrate the point, he invoked a metaphor about teaching someone to fish: “If you’re gonna take your friend out on a boat for the day to teach him how to fish, you wanna make sure he had breakfast that morning. You wanna make sure he’s not sick, because that allows him to learn how to fish again,” he said.
A platform around corporate accountability
Since his election to the Texas House in 2018 at age 28, Talarico has positioned himself as a champion of legislation targeting corporate and pharmaceutical industry practices. He was instrumental in passing legislation capping insulin copays at $25 per month in Texas and enabling the importation of lower-cost medications from Canada.
His Senate campaign messaging appears to hinge on this core idea: that fairness and personal responsibility should apply equally to billionaires and working people.
“We don’t want dependency. We want to reward hard work. And I think that should apply to those billionaires, not just working people,” he said during the recent taping.
You can watch the entire Surrounded episode featuring James Talarico below:
The Next Winners in PE’s Big 401(k) Push: Million-Dollar Lawyers
(Bloomberg) -- Big Law made one fortune helping private equity lure large investors. Now it’s minting another helping the industry attract small ones.
Law firms that have long advised private equity giants on mergers and acquisitions — and often bill more than $1,000 an hour for their services — are joining the industry’s latest treasure hunt: prying open America’s 401(k)s.
The lawyers’ lucrative, if unglamorous, task: setting up funds that promise to bring private equity’s rarefied style of investing to everyday people, even as some big institutions pull back from these investments.
For the financial-industrial complex — bankers, asset managers, lawyers, financial advisors, record-keepers — the incentive is obvious. All told, nearly $13 trillion is sitting in 401(k) accounts and other defined-contribution retirement plans. Tapping into that trove could help plug gaps left by deep-pocketed pensions and endowments.
“More and more people are realizing there’s a lot of money in this,” said Phil Troyer, of counsel at Endeavor Law in Overland Park, Kansas, who specializes in compliance in the retirement-plan industry.
Financial advisors say average investors should tread carefully when weighing whether to add private assets to their retirement mix. There’s no guarantee future investment returns will justify the industry’s high fees.
Lawyers, however, can bill today. Legal fees for the structuring and paperwork of a simple private-markets fund for retail investors can sometimes be as much as $1.5 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Ongoing legal work can amount to hundreds of thousands a year.
Wall Street lawyers say they’ve never seen anything quite like this. Fund specialists — who once set up far less lucrative mutual funds and exchange-traded funds and were snubbed by some of the big firms — are now so coveted that pay can stretch into seven digits, people close to the firms say. Ho-hum legal work like going through fund regulations and preparing prospectuses suddenly looks like a growth business.
And so big-name law firms like Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Kirkland & Ellis are stepping up and looking for talent in an area that, until recently, was far from being a priority. They’re helping the likes of Apollo Global Management Inc., Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co. set up funds aimed at retail investors. A lawyer at one prominent firm said he recently received 25 inquiries in a single week from private-markets firms looking to get into the 401(k) market.
Private equity players and their lawyers have been laying the groundwork for this moment for years.
Since 2020, the number of semi-liquid private-market funds — which allow periodic cash redemptions — aimed at retail and private-wealth investors has doubled, to roughly 380, according to Preqin.
Now, the push is accelerating after President Donald Trump gave the industry a green light to go after the 401(k) market. This year, Apollo, Ares Management Corp., Blackstone, Blue Owl Capital Inc., Brookfield Asset Management, Neuberger Berman and Partners Group all announced new funds for the masses. More are on the way.
Simpson Thacher, which advised KKR on its famous 1989 buyout of RJR Nabisco, has done legal work on more than 50 funds since it started building a retail team in 2014, according to people familiar with the matter, including for Blackstone, Apollo, KKR and TPG Inc.
The law firm advised on a new partnership between Blackstone, Vanguard Group — the great popularizer of low-cost index funds — and Vanguard’s longtime partner Wellington Management Co., and a similar tie-up with Capital Group and KKR to bring private-market funds to the masses.
To handle the new business, law firms have been shelling out for legal talent. In the past decade, Simpson Thacher has expanded its team for retail funds from a handful of people to include 21 partners and 125 lawyers.
Kirkland & Ellis has expanded its unit to about 60 people from fewer than five a half-decade ago and advises at least 60 clients on their retail funds, according to people familiar with the matter. Recent clients include Ares’ Strategic Income Fund and Neuberger Berman’s Private Markets Access Fund.
In July it said it’s advising Blue Owl on a strategic partnership with retirement, employee benefits and investment management firm Voya Financial Inc. to develop private-markets products for defined-contribution retirement plans.
Two other white-shoe law firms, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, have been hiring in this area, too.
Rajib Chanda, the partner who set up the Simpson Thacher’s retail practice, Kirkland & Ellis partner Erica Berthou and Cleary Gottlieb partner Jeff Karpf each said their firms are following client demand. Davis Polk didn’t respond to requests for comment.
SpaceX Is Buying Up an Unfathomable Number of Cybertrucks
Victor Tangermann Sat, December 20, 2025 FUTURISM
SpaceX bought over 1,000 Cybertrucks from Tesla, a number that could rise to 2,000 over time, according to Electrek.
Despite a pessimistic sales forecast, Tesla’s shares have skyrocketed and are up almost 50 percent over the last six months — showing yet again how the company’s $1.5 trillion market cap is largely untethered from the success of its core business.
But that hasn’t stopped Tesla CEO Elon Musk from seemingly putting his thumb on the scales. As an insider source told Electrek, the billionaire’s space company SpaceX has bought over 1,000 Cybertrucks from Tesla, a number that could rise to 2,000 over time.
In other words, one of Musk’s other companies has allegedly spent north of $100 million on Teslas that it’s hard to imagine it finding a use for — and in what looks an awful lot like an embarrassing ploy to save face for the EV maker.
A video circulating on Musk’s social media platform, X, shows an enormous number of Cybertrucks parked outside of SpaceX’s facilities in South Texas.
Considering the pickup EV has been an enormous commercial flop, only selling barely a fraction of Musk’s promised 250,000 to 500,000 Cybertrucks a year, there’s a good chance Tesla is using the mercurial CEO’s other venture to boost the numbers ahead of the end of an otherwise disastrous year.
As Musk continues to alienate his customers following his embrace of far-right ideologies, the company is struggling to close sales. Tesla’s US sales dropped to a nearly four-year low in November, as Reuters reported last week. A cheaper, stripped-down version of its Model Y SUV failed to reverse the downward trend.
According to registration data, the company sold just 5,385 Cybertrucks in the US in Q3, a precipitous drop of 62 percent compared to the same period last year.
Nonetheless, Musk is adamant that the truck is a success story, tweeting earlier this month that it’s an “incredible vehicle” and “our best ever from Tesla.”
How committed the EV maker still is to producing the stainless steel monstrosity remains to be seen. Musk has been trying to transition Tesla away from selling traditional vehicles, doubling down on a robotaxi service and humanoid robots instead.
In the meantime, Tesla’s core business is looking worse for wear. Beyond drying up demand, the company is facing fresh regulatory headwinds, with California threatening the company with a 30-day car sales ban in the state for misleading its customers with the term “Autopilot.”
Despite its erroneous marketing terms, Tesla vehicles — at least the ones being sold to the public — are not able to fully drive themselves, and require the driver to be able to take over control at any time.
Elon Musk Calls Cybertruck Tesla's 'Best Ever' — But Sales Say Otherwise
Badar Shaikh December 8, 2025 Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has touted the company's controversial Cybertruck as the best-ever Tesla, but the sales data tells a different story about the Cybertruck's successes (or lack thereof).
Cybertruck Is An ‘Incredible' Vehicle, Elon Musk Says
Musk took to the social media platform X on Thursday to express his thoughts on the truck, calling it an "incredible" vehicle. "Our best ever from Tesla," Musk said, as he quoted a post that showcased the Cybertruck's ability to operate in sub-zero temperatures and gas savings compared to traditional ICE-powered pickup trucks. Tesla's Cybertruck Woes
Despite Musk's claims, SpaceX and xAI stepping in to buy the trucks, as well as Twitter (now X) founder Jack Dorsey backing the EV pickup truck, the Cybertruck has fared poorly in terms of sales, failing to translate the hype into units sold off the EV giant's showroom lots. Tesla, in Q3 2025, sold just 5,385 Cybertruck units in the U.S., representing a 62.6% YoY decline.
Recent reports also suggest that Tesla could be sitting on tens of thousands of unsold units of the truck, as the automaker also discontinued the affordable RWD Long-Range version of the pickup, which retailed for $69,990 in the U.S. just five months after launching the trim level.
The company also tried a shift in marketing strategy to help accelerate sales growth, positioning it as a rugged, lifestyle vehicle, but it hasn't helped boost adoption among customers. Tesla also recently issued a recall for the Cybertruck, recalling 6,197 units of the vehicle due to a lightbar issue.
Cybertruck's Polarizing Design, Lawsuits
Another aspect of the truck is its polarizing design, which, according to investor Gary Black of the Future Fund LLC, holds the product back from selling. Meanwhile, Ross Gerber, co-founder of Gerber Kawasaki, who owns a Cybertruck himself, opined that Tesla should discontinue the pickup amid poor sales.
However, the design has also resulted in lawsuits, with parents of 19-year-old Krysta Tsukahara filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the automaker for an accident in November 2024.
The parents allege that Tsukahara was trapped inside the flaming vehicle due to the Cybertruck's electronic door system. The flush door handles have been a point of contention among safety experts. Musk's Million Bookings Claim
When it was showcased and bookings opened, Musk claimed that there were more than a million bookings for the Cybertruck. However, the company has, to date, sold approximately 57,000 units, with over 16,097 units sold in the first three quarters of 2025 so far, according to Kelley Blue Book data.
Tesla, earlier this year, began accepting Cybertruck trade-ins, offering close to $65,400 for an All-wheel-drive 2024 version, which was available at $100,000 at launch, representing a 34% decline in value.
Falling EV Demand
However, a broader look at the market would show that, besides the Cybertruck's poor performance, demand for EVs has fallen since President Donald Trump took office earlier this year.
The administration has made a series of anti-EV decisions, like the ending of the $7,500 Federal EV Credit and the recent relaxation of Corporate Average Fuel Economy norms, which have affected EV demand.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) recently paused production of the F-150 Lightning EV Pickup truck, and is reportedly considering scrapping the production altogether. Interestingly, the pickup is the best-selling EV pickup truck in the U.S. The company's EV sales also fell by over 60% in November.
General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM), too, scaled back on EV production as it laid off close to 3,400 workers across multiple EV facilities, as the company, during its third-quarter earnings call, announced it took on a $1.6 billion charge related to EVs.
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
Morgan Stanley seen as front-runner for SpaceX IPO, sources say
Echo Wang, Joey Roulette and Milana Vinn Fri, December 19, 2025
NEW YORK, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley is emerging as a leading contender for a key role in SpaceX's blockbuster initial public offering, as the bank's close ties to CEO Elon Musk give it an edge in his decision, according to three people familiar with the matter.
How large could SpaceX's IPO potentially be?
What are SpaceX's plans for the IPO proceeds?
Why is Morgan Stanley favored for SpaceX IPO?
What changed Musk's thinking about going public?
A selection process, or "bake-off," for the IPO is still underway, with a select group of banks, including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, vying for roles, four people familiar with the matter said, adding that there is no certainty Morgan Stanley will secure the coveted "lead left" underwriting position, the sources said.
Musk's ties to Morgan Stanley run deep, dating back at least 15 years, leaving it widely viewed as the leading contender to run the syndicate of underwriters, three of the people said, though no banks have been selected yet and the discussions remain fluid.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are confidential. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan declined to comment, while SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.
SpaceX is one of the world’s largest private companies and its potential IPO would be highly complex.
While Musk has not yet picked the lead banks, a decision could come before the end of the year, with the full syndicate likely to be finalized afterward, two of the people added.
The people cautioned that while plans are progressing, the IPO remains contingent on market conditions, and SpaceX could choose to delay or abandon the offering altogether.
Morgan Stanley, which has advised Musk for years, was among the banks that took Tesla public in 2010, alongside Goldman Sachs, the lead left, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank. Morgan Stanley later advised Musk and led the financing for his 2022 acquisition of Twitter, now X.
Musk recently tapped one of his Morgan Stanley bankers on that deal, Anthony Armstrong, to become chief financial officer of his artificial intelligence venture xAI.
The connection runs even deeper through Musk’s family office in Austin, Texas. Another former Morgan Stanley banker who advised Musk on various Wall Street dealings over the years, Jared Birchall, built and runs Excession, which manages his personal assets, Reuters previously reported.
STAFF MEMO
In a staff memo sent last week, SpaceX Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen informed staff that the company was preparing for a public offering in 2026.
"Whether it actually happens, when it happens, and at what valuation are still highly uncertain, but the thinking is that if we execute brilliantly and the markets cooperate, a public offering could raise a significant amount of capital," Johnsen wrote.
Reuters has previously reported that SpaceX is seeking to raise more than $25 billion in an IPO that could come next year, a sum that would make it one of the biggest public listings ever globally.
The decision to go public caught some by surprise, given SpaceX's status as one of the world's largest private companies.
While Musk has long expressed a preference for keeping SpaceX private, people familiar with his thinking indicated that the company’s growing valuation and the success of its Starlink satellite-internet service have prompted a shift in strategy.
SpaceX, long known for its dominant rocket launch business, has become the world's largest satellite operator through Starlink, a network of nearly 10,000 satellites beaming broadband internet to consumers, governments and enterprise customers.
While there had been previous speculation about Starlink going public on its own, these people say the IPO could include both businesses, though the plans remain subject to change.
AI FUELS NEED FOR CAPITAL
SpaceX, Johnsen wrote in his email, would use the capital raised from an IPO to increase the flight rate of its next-generation Starship rocket under development and deploy AI data centers in space, an effort complementary to its Starlink business that would more closely tie the company to the AI boom.
The company would also build "Moonbase Alpha," a base on the lunar surface that Musk has mentioned. SpaceX is a core contractor in NASA's Artemis moon program with a $4 billion contract to land astronauts on the lunar surface using Starship.
Sending humans and robots to Mars has been Musk's long-held vision for SpaceX, with revenues from Starlink contributing to development of Starship, which is also envisioned to serve as a Mars transportation system.
Musk, during his stint as a government efficiency czar with U.S. President Donald Trump, had pushed for a greater American focus on Mars and advocated for a former associate, Jared Isaacman, to lead NASA. Isaacman became NASA chief on Tuesday.
Starlink remains SpaceX's top revenue-generating business. The company is expanding the satellite network into the wireless market with Starlink Mobile, which it trademarked in October.
(Reporting by Echo Wang and Milana Vinn in New York and Joey Roulette in Washington; Editing by Dawn Kopecki, Jamie Freed and Nick Zieminski)
Elon Musk's SpaceX Could Be Preparing for a Huge IPO. Here's What to Know.
Colin Laidley Mon, December 15, 2025
Paul Hennessy / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
Musk’s SpaceX is reportedly hearing pitches from investment banks interested in advising on an IPO.
Key Takeaways
Elon Musk's SpaceX is reportedly hearing pitches from investment banks this week as the space exploration company considers going public in what could be the largest IPO to date.
Next year could be a big one for IPOs: AI startups OpenAI and Anthropic are among the other private companies reportedly exploring going public next year.
Wall Street may be headed for a year of blockbuster IPOs in 2026. And a company led by Elon Musk could be leading the way.
Musk’s SpaceX is reportedly hearing pitches this week from investment banks interested in advising on what could be the largest initial public offering in history, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. That news advanced reports that the space exploration company was considering going public from last week, when Bloomberg said SpaceX is targeting a mid-to-late 2026 IPO that would raise $30 billion and value the company at about $1.5 trillion, among the biggest companies in the S&P 500.
If SpaceX hits its IPO targets, it would surpass Saudi Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil company, as the largest debut in history. Aramco raised about $29 billion when it went public in 2019. (SpaceX is reportedly in the process of buying insider shares at a price that values it at $800 billion, double its valuation from this summer.) The company didn't respond to Investopedia's request for comment in time for publication.
Why This Is Important
IPO activity often reflects the prevailing mood on Wall Street, with listings rising when optimism is high and vice versa. The IPO market began to return to normal in 2025 after years of being pressured by high interest rates.
SpaceX stock can't be traded yet, but some market watchers are already betting on a big response from investors when it can. Saudi Aramco debuted with a market capitalization of nearly $1.9 trillion; users of online prediction market Polymarket on Monday put the chance of SpaceX's market cap finishing its first day of trading above $2 trillion at about 14%.
A listing of that size would make SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, already the world's richest person, even wealthier. Musk's SpaceX stake accounts for more than a quarter of his $470 billion fortune, according to Bloomberg, which estimates that he owns about 42% of the company. Holding a stake anywhere close to that size when SpaceX goes public could make Musk the world's first trillionaire far earlier than some thought possible.
Musk has for years said he has no interest in taking SpaceX public, which he worried would derail his plans to facilitate the colonization of Mars. But he and others have lately discussed the notion that insufficient electricity is restraining the AI boom, and that sending data centers into space, where they can draw on solar energy, could help.
Musk last week called “accurate” a report that SpaceX was considering going public to fund efforts to develop orbital data center technology. SpaceX has reportedly floated the idea of using Starlink satellites to host AI workloads as part of its recent pitch to investors.
SpaceX is one of several massive companies considering a public offering next year. ChatGPT maker OpenAI, valued at $500 billion in October, has reportedly discussed a public offering with bankers. Competitor Anthropic is reportedly preparing for an IPO, according to the Financial Times, which also reported the company was targeting a $300 billion valuation in a funding round. Data software company Databricks, TikTok parent ByteDance and fintech Stripe are also rumored to be exploring IPOs next year.
Investors have been waiting years for the return of IPOs. Hundreds of companies went public via IPO or SPAC merger in 2021, spurred by post-pandemic liquidity and rock-bottom interest rates. Activity fell off a cliff in 2022 when the Federal Reserve began raising rates to address soaring inflation. The IPO market stayed cold until this year, when activity has finally picked back up, albeit at a more modest pace than during the pandemic bonanza
SpaceX’s Lofty IPO Valuation Hinges on Big Bet on Outsize Growth
Bailey Lipschultz, Sana Pashankar and Loren Grush December 11, 2025
(Bloomberg) -- To buy into SpaceX’s audacious $1.5 trillion valuation in a listing next year, investors will need to have faith in Elon Musk’s equally galactic vision for his rocket and satellite maker, from orbital data centers to lunar factories to human settlements on Mars.
SpaceX is planning an initial public offering that may be the world’s biggest ever. Its revenue is forecast to be between $22 billion to $24 billion in 2026, largely fueled by its Starlink satellite-internet unit, according to people familiar with the matter.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
At that level, the proposed IPO valuation would clock in at an eye-popping 62.5 times sales. Of listed firms with similar characteristics, only Palantir Technologies Inc. comes close, at about 70 times.
The near-term investment case is that Starlink and a nascent mobile phone service fueled by its acquisition of spectrum from EchoStar Corp. provide the foundation for the outsize growth that IPO buyers will demand.
Musk’s plan, and the driving force behind his decision to pursue a faster-than-expected IPO, is much grander: orbital artificial intelligence data centers forming a distributed network in space. Musk appeared to endorse this vision, as well as Starship rockets bringing humans to settlements on Mars, and the futuristic notion of satellite factories on the moon, in a post on X late on Wednesday.
SpaceX’s IPO, then, is a bet on owning vast swaths of the space economy through the convergence of AI, robots and travel.
Will investors buy it? Skeptics aren’t hard to find. But to a number of observers, the combination of the near-term potential and Musk’s long-term outlook is irresistible and will catapult SpaceX into the realm of the “Magnificent Seven” companies like Nvidia Corp. and Microsoft Corp.
“This is an N of 1 company with limited to no real competition from the Mag 7 and it will likely have the biggest retail bid of all time,” said Jeremy Abelson, founder and portfolio manager at Irving Investors, whose firm is an investor in SpaceX. “The valuation will not, and does not need to, make sense when it comes public.”
Crown Jewel
A critical aspect of pitching a valuation north of $1 trillion in 2026 is the company’s current crown jewel: Starlink.
There could be more than one billion Starlink subscribers in 2040, Morgan Stanley’s analysts estimated in October, with the unit potentially accounting for nearly three-quarters of SpaceX’s roughly $122 billion in projected sales by that time.
The fast-growing unit makes up the majority of SpaceX’s current sales, and its potential as a mobile network provider is already setting it up to take on a legacy industry similar to how Musk’s Tesla Inc. tackled the auto business.
The company has a partnership with T-Mobile US Inc. to provide satellite service to cell phone users in remote areas. It is set to increase its direct-to-mobile capacity by more than 100 times thanks in part to spectrum deals struck with EchoStar earlier this year, enabling full 5G cellular connectivity, Morgan Stanley analysts led by Adam Jonas, a long-time Musk bull, wrote in September.
The amount of spectrum in the EchoStar transaction wouldn’t be enough to provide a disruptive, competitive mobile service, Citigroup Inc. analyst Michael Rollins said in September.
For now, Starlink’s ambition to cross-sell existing carriers would offer lucrative sales opportunities without the investment burden of competing with them directly, according to Morgan Stanley.
Eventually, Starlink could “theoretically beam into every cell phone on planet Earth,” resulting in an “almost an unlimited total addressable market,” said Ali Javaheri, an emerging technology analyst at PitchBook, in an interview.
Investors are similarly bullish on the company’s near-monopoly on the business of sending things to space, counting NASA and the US Department of Defense among its customers. Even AST SpaceMobile Inc., an upstart rival to Starlink, relies on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets to get its satellites in orbit.
Despite that dominance, Morgan Stanley believes launch will account for less revenue in the coming decades. The company’s developmental Starship rocket will eventually take the baton for launches from the Falcon 9. Musk promises it will do everything from launching satellites to shuttling people to the moon — which NASA has awarded SpaceX contracts worth roughly $4 billion to do.
SpaceX’s current dominance of internet from low-Earth orbit and the launch business, paired with dreams of data centers in space and frequent trips to Mars, could make the timing of an IPO “as good as it gets,” according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson.
That’s not necessarily an endorsement.
Frothy Market
Ferguson expects competition to grow, and pointed to Blue Origin LLC, the company founded and bankrolled by Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, among the companies that could see success in the coming years to close the gap.
By that logic, there’s no time like the present for a public listing.
“The more you sit on it, the more other companies can build, have success launching into space, and the less people will value you as if you’re a one of a kind company,” Ferguson said in an interview.
SpaceX’s leadership in space, in an environment where “valuation sensitivity is not high,” means the company will have “a significant amount of latitude” to live up to expectations as a publicly listed company, said Evelyn Chow, portfolio manager of Neuberger Berman’s Next-Gen Space Economy strategy.
It would need a lot.
A massive IPO is designed to fund the development of Musk’s plan for space-based data centers, as Bloomberg reported. That wouldn’t assuage practical concerns raised by Morgan Stanley analysts, who caveated the list of potential benefits such as the low temperatures in space and abundant solar power, with challenges that include maintenance in orbit and radiation requiring specialized hardware.
Market timing could also work against a listing, especially if institutional investor concern around potential overspending on AI gets more serious.
Aviation analyst Rob Stallard sees SpaceX’s IPO calculation as a “sure sign that the equity market is frothy.” With its expected $15 billion in sales this year, a $1.5 trillion valuation would add up to “a mere” 100 times revenue, Stallard said.
Even at the $800 billion valuation being weighed in SpaceX’s latest insider share sale, the company would be larger than the combined market caps of the six largest US defense firms, and would trail just 12 members of the S&P 500 Index, Morgan Stanley said.
“Valuation is subjective, unless you’ve got a voting public that determines your price,” said Chris Quilty, co-CEO and president of Quilty Space, a space research firm. While SpaceX’s board is nominally choosing the target, “In essence, one person, Elon Musk, could set that valuation.”
Indeed, as with all of his ventures, valuation discussions ultimately lead back to the founder himself. Some see it as the ultimate key man risk; PitchBook’s Javaheri called Musk’s track record of building successful companies the “Elon premium”.
Regardless of the sum-of-the-parts model analysts use to estimate the fair value for SpaceX, the lack of direct rivals — and the Elon factor — will make any valuation “hard for investors to wrap their heads around,” according to Irving Investors’ Abelson. That ambiguity can work to the company’s advantage.
“What better time to go to market with this, at a time when you don’t know if data centers in space work, you don’t know if you can mine the moon, a trip to Mars seems possible?” said Bloomberg Intelligence’s Ferguson.
“There’s no better time than now, when there are all of these possibilities.”
Elon Musk's SpaceX to raise over $25 billion in blockbuster 2026 IPO, source says
REUTERS December 10, 2025 By Echo Wang, Manya Saini and Juby Babu
Dec 10 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's SpaceX is looking to raise more than $25 billion through an initial public offering in 2026, a move that could boost the rocket-maker's valuation to over $1 trillion, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
The company's move towards a public listing, which could rank among the largest global IPOs, has been largely driven by the rapid expansion of its Starlink satellite internet business, including plans for direct-to-mobile service and progress in its Starship rocket program for moon and Mars missions.
SpaceX has started discussions with banks about launching the offering around June or July, the person said, requesting anonymity to discuss confidential information.
The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Talks over a listing plan are unfolding against the backdrop of a resurgence in the IPO market in 2025 after a three-year dry spell.
Wall Street's top executives expect the momentum to carry into 2026, turbocharged by a pipeline of high-profile companies preparing to test investor demand.
"SpaceX represents one of the most exciting opportunities in the global IPO market and has been on the dream-list of several investors for years," Samuel Kerr, head of equity capital markets at Mergermarket told Reuters.
"It is a genuine growth industry, with space technology seen as a key frontier in both defense, satellite proliferation and in tech infrastructure in general the growth of orbital data centers."
BLOCKBUSTER LISTING
Several big startups have stayed private for longer and continued to raise capital in private markets, and a listing from a company like SpaceX could prompt more of them to move toward public offerings.
SpaceX ranks as the world's second most-valuable private startup after ChatGPT maker OpenAI, according to data from Crunchbase. OpenAI and rival Anthropic are also reportedly in talks for an IPO next year.
"If all these deals come through the U.S. IPO market will experience a genuine revival, the green shoots of which have already been seen this year," Kerr said.
The news of the potential IPO comes days after a media report that said SpaceX is kicking off a secondary share sale that would value the rocket-maker at $800 billion. However, Musk dismissed the report, calling it inaccurate.
Saudi Aramco is the only completed IPO to achieve a more than $1 trillion valuation. The state-owned petroleum and natural gas giant debuted in December 2019 with an estimated market capitalization of $1.7 trillion.
SpaceX expects to use funds from the public listing to develop space-based data centers, including purchasing the chips required to run them, according to Bloomberg News, which was first to report the potential terms of the offering.
SPACE RACE
Several billionaires and private firms are fueling a new space race in the U.S., pouring money into rockets, satellites and lunar missions, including SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
With NASA relying more on commercial partnerships and defense spending rising, the space industry is becoming a high-stakes arena for technological dominance, national security and economic opportunity.
Still, questions about Musk's ability to run multiple listed companies valued at more than $1 trillion could keep investors cautious, analysts said.
"SpaceX could be one of the most divisive stocks to join the market in years," Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell told Reuters.
"If SpaceX did float, expect growing pressure on Musk to commit to only one of his listed entities – Tesla or SpaceX. It's hard to see how one individual could run two $1 trillion+ companies at the same time."
(Reporting by Echo Wang in New York, Juby Babu in Mexico City and Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Arun Koyyur)
Elon Musk reportedly plans massive IPO for SpaceX. Here’s what that means
Chris Isidore, Jackie Wattles, CNN December 10, 2025
Elon Musk is reportedly considering a public offering for SpaceX. - Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Elon Musk, already the world’s richest man, could soon be much richer. Bloomberg reports he’s planning one of the largest initial public offerings in history for SpaceX.
Musk’s space company plans to raise $30 billion next year, Bloomberg reported, and an IPO could value the company at up to $1.5 trillion. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment on the report.
SpaceX has not had any trouble raising money despite being privately-held. But the ability to sell public shares could increase the cash flow into a company with ambitious, and exorbitantly expensive, plans.
A Wall Street debut would give Musk the added benefit of increasing his already massive wealth. However, it would also bring outside scrutiny to how SpaceX conducts business, something that has rankled Musk during his time running Tesla. What does Elon Musk stand to gain?
The money raised would go to the company, not to Musk. But given that he reportedly owns nearly half the company’s shares, it would significantly increase his net worth.
A publicly-traded SpaceX means Musk could more easily borrow against the value of his stake in the company, as he has with his Tesla holdings. That frees up tax-free cash for his various endeavors.
According to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Tracker, Musk currently has a net worth of $461 billion with most of that due to his Tesla shares and options. If SpaceX is worth $1.5 trillion, that net worth could more than double, according to Bloomberg. Why does it need to go public?
SpaceX is at an inflection point. It has cornered most of the market for astronaut and satellite launches. And its constellation of Starlink microsatellites has turned the company into a major internet service provider.
SpaceX's heavy Starship rocket makes a test flight in October. - Eric Gay/AP
More capital could help the company reach its more ambitious goals. (Even if its ultimate goal, a colony on Mars, proves to be technologically and economically prohibitive.)
SpaceX’s next generation of heavy rocket, dubbed “Starship” by the company, is a radical new approach to reaching outer space. But its still in development – and the rocket has suffered a number of mishaps and explosions during testing that have cast doubt on Musk’s ambitious timelines.
Going public would also allow current investors to cash out their stake in the company at a profit.
Who is invested in SpaceX?
SpaceX’s business has drawn a wide spectrum of major investors, including Google parent Alphabet, financial giants such as Fidelity Investments, and prominent venture capital firms such as the Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital, Valor Equity Partners, and Andreessen Horowitz.
The company has raised $10 billion in funding already, according to Pitchbook. And any time it’s raised funds, it’s had more people clamoring to give it money than it needs. Why is SpaceX believed to be so valuable?
Unlike most other space companies, SpaceX has a positive cash flow, according to the most recent tweets from Musk.
Musk said the Starlink business provides most of the company’s current revenue. But it also has multibillion-dollar contracts to service the International Space Station as well as carry astronauts to the moon under NASA’s program.
Starship has suffered several explosive setbacks during uncrewed test flights in 2025. However, if successful, Starship is expected to underpin SpaceX’s Mars ambitions, which include establishing a permanent settlement on the planet. Starship could also slash the price of carrying a kilogram of cargo to space by orders of magnitude. Are there drawbacks to going public?
Yes. And no one has been more focused on those downsides than Musk.
Going public could put investor pressure on the company’s capital-intensive plans, which might not produce a return on any investment for years to come, if at all.
It also means greater oversight from the public, and scrutiny from regulators such as the Security and Exchange Commission, which Musk has battled with in the past. This is evident in how he’s responded to scrutiny of Tesla. In 2018, Musk proposed taking Tesla private once again, a move he eventually abandoned.
Musk has also regularly battled some investor groups. That includes analysts and short sellers (who make money by betting a stock will decline) as well with firms that advise institutional shareholders. He recently called such research firms “corporate terrorists.”
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla (TSLA, Financials) and SpaceX, has confirmed what many investors have been wondering about for months: SpaceX is indeed moving toward an IPO. The acknowledgement came casually on X, where Musk replied to a post from Ars Technica's Eric Berger with, As usual, Eric is accurate. With that short comment, he essentially gave the strongest signal yet that the company is laying the groundwork to go public.
Musk didn't commit to a date, but the consensus view points to 2026. SpaceX's momentum from Starlink's expanding subscriber base to ongoing Starship development has only fueled expectations that the company could debut with a massive valuation. Some analysts think it could eventually reach the trillion-dollar mark, thanks to recurring revenue from satellite broadband and the growing demand for space infrastructure.
Musk also said that he is looking at options for Tesla stockholders to buy SpaceX shares when it goes public. The details aren't apparent yet, but the statement makes it seem like he's thinking about ways to thank long-time investors who have backed him in a number of businesses.
Now that Musk has publicly confirmed the plan, the attention switches to time and structure. Will SpaceX's public debut change the space sector in the same way that Tesla's debut changed the electric vehicle market.
Elon Musk once promised that SpaceX wouldn’t go public until it delivered humans to Mars (lest pesky shareholders prioritize short-term profits over the long-term project of Martian colonization). The Red Planet must be within shouting distance, judging by the financial buzz. No, turns out it’s a lot easier to land on the S&P 500 these days than on Mars, so why wait?
On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Musk’s aerospace company is moving ahead with plans to raise $30 billion for an initial public offering at an out-of-this-world valuation of $1.5 trillion, with a countdown clock set for mid- to late 2026. And while it may not be on course for Mars, the SpaceX rocket ship might yet deliver next year’s IPO market to a whole new stratosphere.
Reach For The Stars
SpaceX’s potential monster IPO would come after what has been a remarkable rebound year for public listings. Per another Bloomberg analysis published Wednesday, US IPO volume (not including SPACs and closed-end funds) is set to surpass $40 billion this year once medical supply company MedLine prices its IPO next week, easily besting last year’s total. Dealmakers on Wall Street are already preparing for an even bigger 2026. “The velocity of IPO pitch activity is overwhelming, in a good way, across every industry,” Jim Cooney, Bank of America’s head of Americas equity capital markets, told Bloomberg.
Already likely on deck for next year are names such as defense contractor York Space Systems and insurance firm Ethos Technologies, as well as crypto exchange Kraken and construction rental company EquipmentShare. But those names would be easily eclipsed by SpaceX, officially the world’s most valuable private company once again after a recent secondary share sale that valued the company at $800 million. And it may be one of a handful of shooting stars to go public next year:
Joining SpaceX, of course, might be the world’s second-most-valuable private company, OpenAI, which is similarly eying a $1 trillion valuation. (The difference between SpaceX and OpenAI? SpaceX claims to have been cash flow positive for several years now.)
Other “centicorns,” or private companies valued at $100 billion or more, possibly making public market debuts next year include Anthropic, ByteDance, DataBricks and Stripe; for reference, the median market cap of an S&P 500 company is about $40 billion. Per Bloomberg calculations, Wall Street could soon usher some $2.9 trillion worth of private companies into public markets.
Two Tickets to Paradise: While Musk may not have a ticket to Mars yet, a SpaceX IPO would be a second ticket to becoming the world’s first trillionaire. The first, of course, is Musk’s recently secured and first-of-its-kind 12-figure pay package at Tesla, which requires the company to reach some moonshot sales goals. Take it as a valuable lesson: Shoot for the moon, twice if you can, for even if you miss, you’ll land atop the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Quartz · Photo by Paul Hennesy/Anadolu via Getty Images
Shannon Carroll December 10, 2025
Elon Musk is getting ready to see how much public investors will pay for his literal moonshots.
SpaceX is working toward a mid- to late-2026 IPO that, according to Bloomberg, could raise significantly more than $30 billion at a valuation of about $1.5 trillion. If bankers hit those numbers, it would be the biggest stock-market debut on record, leapfrogging Saudi Aramco’s roughly $29 billion listing in 2019 and dropping a rocket company straight into the same valuation airspace as Meta or Amazon.
The deal would bring the entire SpaceX machine — rockets, Starlink satellites, a growing defense business, plus a slate of off-world infrastructure projects — onto public markets in one shot, not just the Starlink unit Musk once dangled as a standalone IPO after its cash flow turned “predictable.” Analysts and bankers are modeling revenue of around $15 billion in 2025 and $22 billion to $24 billion in 2026, with Starlink doing most of the work, which means investors would be paying something like 60 to 70 times next year’s sales for a company that still blows up prototypes on livestreams.
SpaceX’s pitch is that this is no ordinary industrial listing. A chunk of the IPO cash is reportedly earmarked for space-based data centers and the chips to run them — essentially turning low-Earth orbit into a cloud region — on top of funding Starship, more Starlink launches, and presumably some classified work that keeps the Pentagon on speed dial. All of that makes for a seductive growth story if you believe in off-planet infrastructure... and a very expensive science project if you don’t.
In 2013, Musk told his social media followers there were “no near term plans” to IPO SpaceX and that any listing was “only possible in [the] very long term when Mars Colonial Transporter is flying regularly.” Five years later, company president Gwynne Shotwell was still saying, “We can’t go public until we’re flying regularly to Mars.” Well, then.
Private markets have been rehearsing this moment for a while. A tender offer in late 2023 valued SpaceX at about $175 billion; by the end of 2024, an insider share sale had pushed that figure to roughly $350 billion, making it — at the time — the world’s most valuable startup on paper. (OpenAI briefly leapfrogged SpaceX.) The Wall Street Journal then reported talks around a secondary sale at an $800 billion valuation, which would have made SpaceX the most richly priced private company in the U.S.; Musk fired back on X that those fundraising reports were “not accurate” and pointed instead to years of positive cash flow and regular buybacks to give employees liquidity. And now: over $1 trillion.
Public investors would be buying into a company that already launches more than 80% of global payload weight, runs a fast-growing satellite internet service, and sits at the center of U.S. space and defense strategy — and whose CEO is simultaneously running Tesla, X, xAI, and a live feed of his own impulses. A blockbuster IPO at this scale wouldn’t just raise capital for rockets and data centers; it would lock in another gigantic public-market currency that Musk can use as a lever against everything else he touches. Oh, and a successful listing at a $1.5 trillion marker would more than double Musk’s already staggering net worth and hand him a second mega-cap stock to wield alongside Tesla.
If SpaceX does ring the bell in 2026, the story investors are buying is a record-scale space-and-infrastructure bet valued somewhere north of $1 trillion — plus a fresh test of how much volatility they’re still willing to underwrite from Musk.
