--- title: "SpaceX’s IPO Plan Will Give Elon Musk Ironclad Rule Over the Resulting Empire" description: "If the SpaceX public offering goes down like analysts expect, it would give Elon Musk nearly immutable control over the aerospace giant." date: "2026-04-23" modified: "2026-04-23" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/space/spacex-ipo-elon-musk-stocks" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Finance" - "Future Society" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "The Industrialists" --- # SpaceX’s IPO Plan Will Give Elon Musk Ironclad Rule Over the Resulting Empire ![Close-up black and white portrait of a Elon Musk with a serious expression, set against a vibrant red background with a grid pattern and a large light blue circle behind his head.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Harun Ozalp / Anadolu via Getty Images* When SpaceX [makes it debut]() on the stock exchange later this year, experts expect it to be the largest public offering in financial history. Should that audacious prediction come to pass, it would widen Elon Musk's lead over the next-richest person into an unfathomable chasm, and cement him as one of the most powerful men in modern history. It's also sounding like the financial maneuver will give him an ironclad grip over the resulting empire, which includes xAI and X-formerly-Twitter. According to an IPO prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and [unpacked by *Reuters*](), once the company goes public, Musk will serve as CEO, CTO, and chairman of SpaceX's nine-seat board of directors. The company will pursue a dual-class equity structure, under which legacy investors like Musk will receive 10 votes each, while public shareholders only get one. In other words, Musk's mammoth slice of the pie — though it only adds up to [42 percent]() of the company — will give him a stranglehold over the behemoth aerospace enterprise. Given the equity Musk already holds — he bought [$1.4 billion in stock]() last year alone — he stands to make billions once the shares debut on the market (SpaceX is said to be targeting a whopping $1.75 trillion valuation, coupled with a $75 billion fundraise, according to *Reuters*.) Shareholders sweetened the pot even further with Musk's latest pre-IPO compensation package, which includes a reward of 60 million in shares. In order to claim the prize, however, SpaceX will need to check two boxes: the company will have to reach a valuation of $6.6 trillion, and will have to fulfill Musk's fantasy of [putting a data center in space](). While the first stipulation could satisfy itself in today's [topsy-turvey stock market](), the second task will take some doing — if it's [even possible]() in the first place. **More on SpaceX:** *[Pentagon Disturbed as Its Fleet of Drones Is Left Bobbing in the Ocean When Elon Musk’s Starlink Fails]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()