Twenty-one banks. Five continents. One rocket company.

SpaceX has assembled one of the largest underwriting syndicates in Wall Street history for its blockbuster initial public offering, internally codenamed Project Apex, with at least 21 banks signed on to manage a listing that could value Elon Musk’s space empire at $1.75 trillion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The scale of the banking lineup — five active bookrunners plus 16 additional firms — tells you plenty about the complexity and ambition of this deal. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup are serving as lead bookrunners, according to Reuters. The supporting cast stretches from Allen & Co and William Blair on the boutique end to Deutsche Bank, Barclays, UBS, and ING Groep among the international heavyweights.

Brazil’s BTG Pactual and Australia’s Macquarie are in. So are Societe Generale, Banco Santander, Mizuho, Royal Bank of Canada, Stifel, Raymond James, Needham & Co, and Wells Fargo. About half of these names had not been previously reported.

The Numbers Behind Project Apex

The IPO is expected to raise as much as $50 billion, according to Bloomberg, which would eclipse Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion debut in 2019 — the current all-time record. At a $1.75 trillion valuation, SpaceX would instantly become one of the most valuable publicly traded companies on Earth.

The valuation incorporates SpaceX’s February acquisition of Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI, which valued the combined entity at roughly $1.25 trillion — $1 trillion assigned to SpaceX and $250 billion to xAI, according to Bloomberg. The roughly $17.5 billion of debt tied to X, Musk’s social media platform, and xAI is set to be repaid in full, people with knowledge of the matter said.

For context on the syndicate size: ARM Holdings worked with close to 30 banks for its 2023 listing. Alibaba assembled 35 underwriters for its record-breaking $25 billion debut in 2014. Large syndicates are becoming standard for mega-listings, but 21 banks is still extraordinary — and more could be added before the expected June offering.

What’s Actually Being Sold

The company that investors would be buying into is a satellite internet provider with a rocket-launch side hustle — or a rocket company with a satellite internet revenue engine, depending on perspective.

Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet division, operates the largest single satellite network in the world, with nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit. Bloomberg Intelligence projects it will generate $9 billion in revenue for SpaceX in 2026. The company plans to start launching larger, more powerful Starlink satellites in mid-2027, relying on its Starship rocket — still in development after a rocky 2025 testing campaign. The next Starship test flight could come as soon as this month.

A publicly traded SpaceX would reshape the competitive landscape for satellite internet. Rivals like Amazon’s Project Kuiper would face quarterly earnings comparisons against a company with a massive first-mover advantage in orbit.

The Retail Question

Musk has reportedly discussed allocating up to 30 percent of shares to individual investors — a dramatic departure from the 5-10% typical in large IPOs. The strategy would leverage his enormous retail fan base, the same cohort that has driven Tesla’s cult-like following.

The retail question has already produced its own drama. A Reuters report on March 30 claimed Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade was in talks to lead the retail allocation, potentially sidelining Robinhood and SoFi. Musk responded on X the following day: “These reports are false.” The swift denial suggests the retail distribution matters to him personally — and that the final lineup of brokerages remains unresolved.

Robinhood, which has been vying for a key role, gained notoriety during the 2021 meme-stock frenzy and faced criticism for trading restrictions. Its inclusion or exclusion carries symbolic weight for the retail-investor community.

Who Profits

The fees on a $50 billion offering would be enormous. Mega-listings often negotiate lower percentage rates than smaller deals, but even a thin margin on this scale generates hundreds of millions of dollars across 21 banks, with the five active bookrunners taking the largest share.

The real windfall belongs to Musk and SpaceX’s existing investors. The Texas-based company has been privately held since its founding in 2002. A public listing would finally provide liquidity for early backers who have waited over two decades.

The deal also tightens the financial interconnections between Musk’s companies. SpaceX now houses xAI’s artificial intelligence capabilities. Tesla shareholders have already lobbied for priority access to SpaceX shares. Morgan Stanley, a lead bookrunner, has been a major lender to Musk’s acquisition of X. The web of relationships is intricate, and a public SpaceX adds a new thread.

Project Apex is expected in June. Until then, 21 banks will be working around the clock — and competing for every scrap of allocation they can get.

Sources