AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Across Wall Street, bankers have been clamoring to lead what is expected to be the biggest-ever initial public offering.Listen · 5:30 min A SpaceX rocket in 2024. The company, led by Elon Musk, chose Goldman Sachs to be the lead bank for its initial public offering. Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York TimesMay 21, 2026, 7:38 a.m. ETMost weeks this spring, a team of Goldman Sachs bankers flew to Los Angeles, checked into luxury hotels (the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills was a favorite) and headed to work at the SpaceX offices.There, the Goldman bankers often ran into their fiercest rivals, bankers from Morgan Stanley, who were also working at SpaceX’s open-plan office, helping Elon Musk and his team prepare their company’s then-secret initial public offering, according to four people who were familiar with both banks’ efforts but not permitted to discuss them publicly.The two Wall Street firms were also jostling with each other to earn the coveted role as the lead bank on the I.P.O., hired to find investors to buy up SpaceX’s public shares and smooth out the gyrations of early trading.On Wednesday, SpaceX revealed that Goldman had won that spot, known as “lead left,” a reference to the position on the I.P.O. paperwork where the bank’s name appears. That most likely entitles the bank to the largest share of what is expected to be more than $1 billion in commissions and associated fees.Goldman will share that bounty with 22 other banks that Mr. Musk also hired. Morgan Stanley was listed second.The other banks include Wall Street giants like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase and smaller firms like Cantor Fitzgerald, where the sons of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hold leadership positions.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT