A huge change is coming to the world’s booming artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
Starting with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, with OpenAI and Anthropic preparing to follow, all three private companies are set to sell shares of their stock to the general public for the first time. These are what’s known as initial public offerings (IPOs).
SpaceX – the first of them to launch this Friday, June 12 – expects to raise $US75 billion from selling just 4% of the company’s shares.
Musk is already the world’s richest man, worth around US$800 billion. He owns around 42% of SpaceX now, plus options to buy more shares at a fraction of the US$135 a share price ordinary investors are being asked to pay. Given his existing wealth, after this Friday’s listing Musk looks likely to become the world’s first trillionaire.
Together, these three companies are valued at almost $US4 trillion and are expected to raise a record-breaking $US200 billion, despite well-founded concerns that big AI stocks are now hugely overvalued.
