Musk: "Man, you have to smoke some really good crack"

SpaceX has made history with the world's largest stock market debut, selling nearly five percent of its shares on the Nasdaq in New York and generating $75 billion (750 billion Swedish kronor). This monumental IPO has established Elon Musk as the world's first dollar-billionaire and positioned SpaceX as the sixth most valued company globally.

Elon Musk expressed his astonishment at the company's trajectory, recalling its humble beginnings in a warehouse. "It is truly difficult to believe that a small company that started in a warehouse in El Segundo is now listing with the largest IPO ever," he stated to thousands of investors and employees at SpaceX's headquarters in Starbase, Texas. He admitted to giving SpaceX less than a 10 percent chance of success initially.

The IPO's rapid execution, beginning six months prior, was driven by Musk's directive to "move faster." Key motivations included listing before potential political changes following the U.S. midterm elections, before Musk's 55th birthday in late June, and ahead of planned IPOs by AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic. Musk also insisted the listing occur during a week when Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter aligned in the night sky.

Initially, SpaceX's plan was to go public only after achieving its goal of regular Mars flights. There was also talk of spinning off its satellite internet service, Starlink, rather than listing the entire company. However, a significant shift occurred in early 2026 when SpaceX acquired Elon Musk's xAI, which includes the social media platform X. Shortly after, SpaceX secured an option to purchase Cursor, a rapidly developing AI assistant company founded by MIT students.

This strategic move into AI, coupled with Musk's increasing discussions about SpaceX's plans to build massive AI data centers, appears to have accelerated the timeline for the IPO. The acquisition of xAI and the potential acquisition of Cursor have seemingly reshaped SpaceX's immediate priorities, leading to the historic Nasdaq debut.

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Det är verkligen svårt att tro att ett litet företag som startade i ett lager i El Segundo nu börsnoteras med den största börsintroduktionen någonsin. Jag gav Space X mindre än 10 procent chans att lyckas överhuvudtaget