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Elon Musk has proposed timing SpaceX’s initial public offering to coincide with a rare planetary alignment and his birthday, as the world’s richest man seeks an auspicious date for what would be the largest listing in history.
The rocket maker is targeting mid-June for its IPO when Jupiter and Venus will appear very close together, known as a conjunction, for the first time in more than three years, said five people familiar with the matter.
SpaceX is seeking to raise as much as $50bn at a valuation of roughly $1.5tn, the people added, which would make it the largest IPO in history and far exceed the $29bn raised by Saudi Aramco in 2019. They cautioned that all figures remain preliminary and may change.
The FT last week reported the company was lining up Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley for lead roles on the blockbuster deal.
On June 8 and 9 Jupiter and Venus will be “within a little more than 1 degree of each other in the sky, about the width of a thumb held at arm’s length”, according to non-profit organisation The Planetary Society. A few days later, Mercury will also align diagonally with the two planets.
Another reason to target that month is Musk’s birthday, which is on June 28, the people said.
The unusual demand highlights Musk’s personal imprint on SpaceX, where major corporate decisions have often reflected the billionaire’s beliefs and priorities, from ambitious production targets to unconventional management practices.
Musk has a history of cracking jokes about business decisions. In 2018, he tweeted about taking Tesla private at $420 a share. Many interpreted the price as a reference to 4/20, or April 20, a day celebrated by marijuana smokers.
After a spat on social media over Ryanair buying Starlink internet for its planes, Musk this month threatened to buy the budget airline and replace chief executive Michael O’Leary with a man called Ryan.
Some bankers and investors believe that a June timeline is too tight. They pointed out that the company still needs to file a Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to notify the regulator of its intent to list and arrange a global roadshow to market the shares.
Any IPO will also remain hostage to market conditions and sentiment, which are more unpredictable than ever amid President Donald Trump’s frequent threats to impose tariffs and attempts to influence the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policy, they added.
Bret Johnsen, chief financial officer, has been holding talks and Zoom calls with existing private investors since mid-December to explore a mid-2026 IPO, the people said.
The offering is expected to see massive demand from institutional and retail investors, who have been unable to obtain shares as the company had opted to remain private.
Musk has been motivated to go public as the company seeks greater funds to develop its Starship rocket system designed to reach Mars, some of the people said.
SpaceX has told investors that it is developing the technology to deploy data centres in space — connected by its network of 9,400 Starlink satellites — which Musk believes is essential if his conglomerate of companies is to be competitive in AI against rivals such as Google and OpenAI.
The rocket group held talks in December over a private share sale at an $800bn valuation, more than double its previous value of nearly $400bn.
SpaceX invested $2bn in xAI last year, another of Musk’s privately held ventures, which he merged with social media platform X in March. The billionaire has also said he wants his electric-vehicle maker Tesla to put money in xAI.
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.