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SpaceX Is ‘Go’ For IPO Launch After 2025 Loss

SpaceX launch
Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX has disclosed financial details ahead of the aerospace industry’s most anticipated public offering, including a $5 billion net loss in 2025 on $18.7 billion in sales.

SpaceX, which was founded in 2022, plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol SPCX.  “We believe that space represents the largest economic frontier in human history, unlocking unprecedented opportunities in orbit and on Earth,” the company said in a regulatory document.

The company did not disclose at what price it plans to go public. The listing is likely next month and could raise $80 billion or more. 

SpaceX also reported a first-quarter loss of $4.3 billion on $4.7 billion in revenue in the much-awaited S-1 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The loss was driven by heavy spending on artificial intelligence, with capital expenditure there of $10 billion in the first three months.

Only the company’s Starlink and related communications system activities are generating a profit. The business line made $1.2 billion in the first three months of the year. SpaceX reported 10.3 million subscribers, more than double the prior-year figure, and 9,600 satellites in orbit, including around 650 for initial direct-to-device service.

Consumer subscribers accounted for about 60% of those sales. SpaceX also has its Starshield government service, where it provides secure communications and also services in Earth observation and to hosted payloads.

The launch business posted a $662 million loss in the first quarter and the AI operation $2.5 billion.

SpaceX made a $791 profit in 2024 after losing $4.6 billion in 2023.

The filing also included operational and governance details. Among them, the document discloses that the company plans to start payload delivery to orbit using its Starship system in the second half of this year. It also said it aims to deploy on-orbit AI compute satellites starting in about two years.

SpaceX said it sees the AI-related business opportunity as far larger than its core launch and satellite services. Of the $28.5 billion total addressable market it forecasts for the business, less than 10% would be from its traditional operations and flying rockets and satellite communication services.

CEO Elon Musk, the SEC document shows, controls about 85% of the company ahead of the listing, with 12.3% of Class A shares and 93.6% of Class B shares that are particularly important because it gives him full control over the board which stops him from being ousted.

The level of control has drawn some investor concerns ahead of the listing, including that he would serve as chairman, CEO and chief technology officer. SpaceX, in the filing, referred to Musk as “one of the great visionaries of our generation.”

The company also gave a glimpse of what may come. It said spectrum transaction with EchoStar to close in November 2027 and that it could pursue further deals. It also identified point-to-point terrestrial travel, in-orbit manufacturing, asteroid mining among potential future market opportunities, as well as the more expected passenger and cargo transport to the Moon and Mars, energy production and manufacturing there.

Robert Wall

Robert Wall is Executive Editor for Defense and Space. Based in London, he directs a team of military and space journalists across the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific.