World’s richest person targeting symbolic date in June for flotation of rocket company
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is considering a flotation valuing the rocket company at $1.5tn (£1.1tn) that will reportedly be timed for early summer to coincide with a planetary alignment and the multibillionaire’s birthday.
The world’s richest person is targeting a symbolic date of mid-June for the initial public offering, according to the Financial Times. This would be around the same time as Jupiter and Venus appear in close proximity to each other and shortly before Musk turns 55 on 28 June.
The FT also reported that SpaceX is seeking to raise $50bn – valuing the rocket company at $1.5tn – compared with previous reports that it was looking for $25bn at an $800bn valuation. Last week, it was reported that rocket company was considering Bank of America, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for leading roles in the share sale.
Musk, whose $680bn fortune would be turbo-boosted by a SpaceX flotation, said last year the company’s annual revenue would be $15.5bn, with $1.1bn of that coming from contracts with Nasa. The billionaire owns about 42% of SpaceX, as well as nearly 17% of the electric carmaker Tesla, where he is chief executive. He also owns more than three-quarters of the social media platform X.
