Exclusive-SpaceX accelerates IPO timeline, targets June 12 listing on Nasdaq, sources say

By Echo Wang and Anirban Sen

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker SpaceX is aiming to list its shares as early as June 12 and has picked the Nasdaq as the trading venue for ‌its blockbuster market debut, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

The listing, one of the most anticipated ‌in years, is expected to headline this year’s crowded IPO calendar that could also include AI heavyweights Anthropic and OpenAI, both of which are expected to tap public ​markets.

SpaceX’s debut comes at a pivotal moment for the IPO market, which has rebounded after struggling over the past couple of years amid volatility fueled by U.S. tariff policy and geopolitical uncertainty.

Set to trade under the ticker ‘SPCX’, the company has accelerated its IPO timeline and is now aiming to make its prospectus public as early as next Wednesday, with a roadshow launch targeted for June 4 and the share sale ‌as early as June 11, according to three ⁠sources familiar with the matter.

The new plan to IPO during the second week of June represents a quicker-than-expected timeline for SpaceX’s offering, moving forward a process that had initially been targeted for late June — around ⁠the time of Musk’s birthday — the sources said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are private.

A faster-than-expected review of the company’s IPO paperwork by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was partially responsible for the company’s move to bring forward the listing timeline, the sources added.

SPCX was previously the ticker ​for ​Tuttle Capital Management’s SPAC-focused ETF before the firm switched to the SPCK ticker ​in April. The move at the time triggered speculation ‌about SpaceX potentially choosing the newly available ticker.

Reuters was first to report in March that SpaceX was leaning toward listing its shares on the Nasdaq, as it sought early inclusion on the Nasdaq-100 index.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nasdaq and the SEC declined to comment.

MARQUEE OFFERING

The listing would mark a major victory for Nasdaq, staving off competition from its crosstown rival, the New York Stock Exchange.

It comes on the heels of the recent rollout of Nasdaq’s highly anticipated ‘fast entry’ rules to speed up the entry of newly ‌listed large-cap companies to its benchmark Nasdaq-100 index. Other leading index operators like ​S&P Dow Jones Indices and FTSE Russell have also launched similar rules to ​fast-track new listings to their respective benchmarks, seeking to turbocharge ​the pipeline of IPOs.

Nasdaq has previously said that it widely sought feedback from market participants on the ‌fast-entry rules and that it had a transparent index ​governance process.

SpaceX is likely to target ​a raise of about $75 billion at a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion, which would make it the biggest stock market flotation of all time, Reuters has previously reported. The $1.75 trillion target represents a significant step up from the $1.25 trillion combined valuation set when ​SpaceX merged with Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI ‌in February.

Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs are the lead bookrunners for the offering, with ​16 other banks in smaller roles spanning institutional, retail and international channels.

(Reporting by Echo Wang and Anirban Sen in ​New York; Editing by Megan Davies, Chizu Nomiyama and Rosalba O’Brien)