SpaceX Begins Trading in Landmark $1.8 Trillion Listing

**Leanna Byrne** (0:01)
Today's the day Elon Musk could become a trillionaire. It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service. I'm Leanna Byrne. As people buy up SpaceX stocks, we ask what are they really buying? And what will the company's public status mean for Musk himself?
So today is the day. SpaceX will start trading in public markets after raising about $75 billion, valuing the company at nearly $1.8 trillion. So what is it like in New York today, ahead of the shares trading? Our North America business correspondent, Michelle Fleury, is outside the NASDAQ stock exchange in Times Square in Midtown Manhattan. Michelle, what is going on there?

**Michelle Fleury** (0:56)
Well, it was quite a scene earlier. There were huge crowds. Some of them were World Cup tourists, probably a bit bemused by what they had stumbled into.
Others, though, were early investors in SpaceX, who presumably after today will be kind of going home a lot wealthier, because this is just such an enormous stock market debut. It is raising so much money. And for people who kind of bet on this company early on, it is a chance to kind of take some of their profits out and make huge gains.

**Leanna Byrne** (1:29)
Absolutely. And Elon, he rang the bell, but he wasn't there. He was ringing it from Texas and somebody else was doing it inside the Nasdaq.

**Michelle Fleury** (1:37)
That's right. He was beamed, though, I should say, by video feed right before the opening bell onto the exterior of the Nasdaq. And there was also music playing as well, Elton John's Rocketman. So it's quite a kind of party atmosphere. But I think there are still questions about the valuation of this company, $1.8 trillion. It's pretty rich for a company that is still loss making.
You know, it is a bet on the future. And I think that's really what people are being asked to kind of bet on, is do they think this will pay off? And does it bother them that Elon Musk, even after this show, will still retain control of the company?

**Leanna Byrne** (2:18)
Now, what's going on for the rest of the day? What can we expect? I know, Michelle, it's quite warm there. You're standing outside, but what are you expecting to happen?

**Michelle Fleury** (2:27)
So, what happens when you have a flotation like this is the opening trading bell rings, as per normal, there's a lot of happy faces kind of cheering and shouting, but the actual first trade in SpaceX shares won't happen till later. So, the company itself has kind of allocated what it planned to sell to what you call professional investors, and that's done by the big banks, and all of that happened this morning.
And then, on the secondary market, which in this case is the NASDAQ, that's when it opens up to kind of the broader public. And based on indications, it looks like, you know, initially SpaceX sold its shares for $135, but when it begins trading, you know, for real to the rest of us, it's looking like it will open at around $175 a share.

**Leanna Byrne** (3:17)
All right, okay. Well, Michelle, you stay cool. Michelle, Florrie, thank you so much for joining us.
Yes, as Michelle said, SpaceX will probably begin trading in the next couple of hours. With me now is Randip Somal, Fund Manager at M&G Investments. Randip, are you hoping for a pop?

**Randip Somal** (3:35)
Well, let's wait and see. The demand was actually $350 billion and $75 billion allocated. So there's been a lot of interest in SpaceX and it includes some long-standing institutional investors, BlackRock, but also the Saudi and Kuwaiti Sobran Wealth Fund. So we'll just have to see how this plays out now.

**Leanna Byrne** (3:52)
Absolutely. Broadly, global markets are up, Randip. Is that all to do with SpaceX?

**Randip Somal** (3:58)
Probably not. I think European markets are up, especially higher than the US today. And it's probably more to do with the fact that oil is down and there's again discussions between the US and Iran about a ceasefire and a potential full open up of the Strait of Hormuz.

**Leanna Byrne** (4:14)
Now, Randip, we've been talking a lot about this. There's other listings, other AI listings on the cards, AopenAI, Anthropic. Is there going to be enough money to put into all of these listings?

**Randip Somal** (4:25)
I mean, the problem is that none of them are profitable. And while they've taken a lot of capital from the private markets, now they're tapping into the public markets. And it's not just listings. We've seen Google Pay and Alphabet raise $85 billion for their cloud products as well. And I think all of these companies are trying to get to the market to ensure they have sufficient capital, just in case liquidity does start to dry out.