The day has finally arrived and SpaceX is a public company valued at a colossal $2.05 trillion (€1.77 trillion) as it raised a record $75 billion.It’s an astounding figure in any circumstances, but especially when there are so many doubters about its businesses and its governance. Those doubters haven’t been proved wrong yet, but for now their questions haven’t dissuaded many from putting their cash into SpaceX. The shares popped more than 11 per cent when they began trading and have kept on going. It’s not unusual for shares to rise in the immediate aftermath of an IPO – SpaceX’s bankers will likely have priced the shares with a plan for at least a moderate initial gain.SpaceX went into the IPO process targeting a valuation of $1.75 trillion – a shocking number to most of us – but it comfortably achieved that. Indeed, a much discussed report from analysts at Morningstar made the case for the valuation being close to half that. Other commentary has pointed out (correctly at present) that Starlink is the key money making part of SpaceX, not space transport, and not xAI.Aidan Donnelly was speaking to Cliff Taylor for the Inside Business podcast.
Video: Alyson Henry In truth though, this company isn’t about fundamentals. At least not right now. If an investor is combing financial data to decide whether to buy the shares, this probably isn’t for them.SpaceX is a bet on Elon Musk. That’s the long and the short of it. If people believe in Musk and believe in what he wants to do, they will buy the shares, regardless of what a technical analysis indicates. Clearly there are plenty of people who do believe in him. Retail investors applied to buy more than $100 billion worth of SpaceX stock in advance of Friday’s IPO. That’s excluding big investment funds and other institutional investors. All in all, orders topped $350 billion. ‘No profit and crap governance’ – is Elon Musk’s SpaceX actually worth $1.75 trillion? Listen | 41:54First up on this week’s episode of Inside Business is Elon Musk's company SpaceX and its plan to raise $75 billion through what will likely be the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in history this Friday.The company values itself at $1.75tn, but some analysts feel it is worth far less.Could it prove to be a risky bet for the retail investor given SpaceX's lack of profit? And there are question marks over governance given Musk's almost untouchable status within the company.To get some insight on all this, host Cliff Taylor was joined in studio by Aidan Donnelly, head of Global Equities at Davy.Plus, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is expected to announce a 0.25% rise in the ECB's interest rate, this will bring it up to 2.25%.It will be the first interest rate hike since 2023, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the impact that had on energy prices.So, what does this week’s increase mean for Irish mortgage holders and those looking to buy?And is this the beginning of a cycle of increases designed to control rising inflation?Cliff was joined in studio by Senior Mortgage Advisor at Irish Mortgage Brokers, Michael Dowling.Produced by John Casey with JJ Vernon on sound.But even SpaceX shares popping on Friday doesn’t guarantee long-term happiness for shareholders. With the torrent of AI-related share issues coming down the tracks – OpenAI and Anthropic plan to go public while both Meta and Google owner, Alphabet are reported to be plotting new fundraising to fund AI spending. The billions of dollars that needs to be invested in those companies will have to come from somewhere. Don’t be surprised if at least some of them come out of SpaceX shares.
