SpaceX files for IPO that could make Elon Musk a trillionaire

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Elon Musk's SpaceX has revealed its plans to go public in the US, allowing people to trade shares in the firm on the stock market.

SpaceX makes rockets, offers a satellite internet service called Starlink, and also owns Musk's controversial artificial intelligence (AI) firm xAI.

The initial public offering (IPO) on the US stock market is set to be the largest in Wall Street history and could start next month under the ticker symbol SPCX.

Because of the shares he will own in SpaceX, the IPO could make billionaire Musk, who is already the world's richest person, a trillionaire.

The filing offers a long-anticipated look at the financial state of SpaceX.

Last year, Space Exploration Technologies - as it's officially known - brought in $18.6bn (£13.8bn) in revenue but had a net loss $4.9bn.

In the first three months of this year, it achieved $4.7bn in sales but made a net less of $4.3bn.

Meanwhile, its balance sheet shows reveals it has $102bn in assets, such as rockets and other equipment, but also carries $60.5bn of debt.

SpaceX is reportedly targeting a $2tn valuation.

The filing acknowledges that Grok, the chatbot made by xAI, is being probed after being used to create sexualized deepfakes of real women and girls in January.

Musk has said he intends to dissolve xAI and pursue his AI ambitions under SpaceX.

SpaceX also owns X, the social media app previously known as Twitter which Musk purchased in 2022.

AI rivals

Also revealed in the filing Wednesday were the financial terms of the deal that SpaceX recently struck with an AI competitor, Anthropic, the developer of Claude.

Anthropic will pay $15bn a year to access data centres in the American South for Musk's xAI which was recently acquired by SpaceX.

While Musk's AI ambitions have struggled amid a spate of controversies, SpaceX's rocket business and Starlink are considered leaders in the industry – both possess a comfortable lead over the competition.

The IPO filing comes just days after Musk lost a high-profile legal battle against rival AI company OpenAI and its boss, Sam Altman.

Musk had accused Altman of breaching a non-profit contract by shifting the ChatGPT-maker to a for-profits after Musk had donated millions of dollars.

The jury voted unanimously to throw out the case, finding that the timeframe to bring his claims expired because Musk had waited too long to file his 2024 lawsuit.

At trial, Musk told jurors that his AI start up xAI was small relative to OpenAI which is also expected to sell shares to the public imminently.

SpaceX's Starship megarocket is set to launch this week but the company has also come under scrutiny for endangering workers at its facilities.

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