WASHINGTON — SpaceX shares rose on the first day of trading as the company went public in a milestone event for both the company and the broader space industry.
SpaceX sold nearly 555.6 million shares at $135 per share in an initial public offering June 12, raising $75 billion before expenses for the company. SpaceX did not change details about the IPO after disclosing the number of shares and pricing June 3.
SpaceX shares started trading on the Nasdaq exchange at about 11:45 a.m. Eastern June 12 at $150 per share. They closed at $160.95, an increase of 19.2% over the IPO price, giving SpaceX a market cap of about $2.1 trillion.
The IPO is the largest in stock market history, far surpassing the $29.4 billion raised by oil company Saudi Aramco when it went public in 2019. SpaceX has the option to sell an additional 83.3 million shares, raising $11.25 billion more for the company.
SpaceX first signaled an interest last December in going public after stating for years that it would remain privately held to focus on long-term ambitions such as human missions to Mars. Going public, the company said, would enable it to pursue new opportunities such as orbital data centers.
