Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX, SPCX) made history on June 12 with the largest initial public offering ever recorded, raising approximately $85.7 billion on the Nasdaq. While the sheer scale of the IPO captured global attention, a lesser-known subplot has emerged in Japan, where an unusual arrangement allowed individual investors to secure shares at the offering price—an opportunity rarely afforded to retail buyers outside the United States for such a high-profile listing.
The Japanese tranche amounted to ¥350 billion (approximately $2.2 billion) worth of SpaceX stock, yet demand from local investors was overwhelming. According to a report by 《The Asahi Shimbun》, the securities firms handling the allocation received more than ¥1 trillion (approximately $6.2 billion) in purchase requests—roughly three times the available supply. A company employee in Nagoya who bought shares at the public offering price described the investment as “like buying a lottery ticket for a dream,” underscoring the aspirational appeal Elon Musk’s space venture holds for retail participants.
Typically, U.S. companies preparing to go public prioritize allocations to American institutional investors and do not actively market shares to Japanese retail channels. The fact that SpaceX deviated from this norm was the result of a Japanese securities firm successfully anticipating Musk’s strategic intentions and securing a role as one of the underwriters, or “lead managers,” for the offering. The firm’s ability to read the famously unpredictable entrepreneur’s thinking allowed it to carve out a piece of the record-breaking deal for domestic investors.
On its first day of trading, SpaceX reached a market capitalization of $2.1 trillion, placing it sixth among all U.S. publicly traded companies and ahead of Meta, the parent company of Facebook. The IPO eclipsed the previous fundraising record held by Saudi Aramco, which raised $26.6 billion in 2019.
However, the euphoria surrounding the debut has cooled considerably. As of early July, SpaceX shares were trading roughly 19% below their post-IPO high. The stock’s valuation remains extreme by conventional metrics, trading at approximately 111 times trailing-12-month sales, according to analysis from 《The Motley Fool》.
SpaceX’s business is a sprawling conglomerate organized into three reporting segments, each with starkly different financial profiles. The Connectivity division, anchored by the Starlink satellite broadband network, is the company’s profit engine. In the first quarter of 2026, Starlink generated $3.3 billion in revenue and $1.2 billion in operating income, serving 10.3 million customers across 164 countries with a constellation of 9,600 satellites in orbit. For the full year 2025, Connectivity posted nearly $11.4 billion in revenue and $4.4 billion in operating profit.
The other two segments are burning cash at a rapid clip. The Space division, while generating $4.1 billion in revenue in 2025, recorded an operating loss of $657 million. The AI unit, which includes the recently merged xAI, brought in $3.2 billion in revenue but suffered an operating loss of nearly $6.4 billion. Overall, SpaceX posted a net loss exceeding $4.9 billion on roughly $18.7 billion in total revenue for 2025.
A potential overhang for retail investors is the company’s accelerated share lockup expiration schedule. SpaceX sold less than 5% of its outstanding shares in the IPO—an unusually low float—which, combined with forced buying from index funds tracking the Russell 1000, Russell 3000, and Nasdaq-100, may have artificially inflated the stock price. That dynamic could reverse sharply once insiders are permitted to sell.
The lockup period begins to unwind on a staggered basis shortly after SpaceX reports its first quarterly results as a public company, currently estimated for August 6. Under the early release schedule, 20% of eligible insider shares can be sold two full trading days after that report. An additional 10% becomes available if the stock trades 30% or more above the IPO price for five out of ten trading days ending on the second day after the report. Further tranches unlock at calendar days 70, 90, 105, 120, and 135 post-IPO, each releasing 7% of early release shares. After the second public quarterly report in November, another 28% becomes eligible. All remaining shares, including those held by CEO Elon Musk, can be sold starting on calendar day 366 after the IPO.
The company’s prospectus also flagged the likelihood of future debt and equity capital raises, raising the specter of share dilution that could add further downward pressure on the stock.
Still, SpaceX possesses undeniable assets. The company is the world’s largest rocket launch provider with 650 launches to date and has pioneered reusable rocket technology. Starlink continues to expand its subscriber base, and the AI division recently secured a $1.25 billion-per-month contract to supply processing power from two data centers to AI developer Anthropic.
For now, the divergence between SpaceX’s grand ambitions and its bottom-line reality presents a complex picture for investors. As the lockup clock ticks down and the company continues to invest heavily in capital-intensive projects, the coming months will test whether the stock can sustain its lofty valuation—or whether the record-breaking IPO will be remembered as the peak of retail enthusiasm.