Tech

SpaceX's IPO paperwork has landed. Here's our first look inside the finances of Elon Musk's rocket company.

Elon Musk at a SpaceX building in Texas, May 2025
Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, which recently acquired his AI startup, xAI, has released its public S-1 filing ahead of a planned IPO. Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images
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Houston, we have the SpaceX filing everyone has been waiting for.

The S-1 paperwork, one of the most hotly anticipated financial filings of the year, gives the public its first look at the inner workings of Elon Musk's rocket company and AI venture xAI.

The filing reveals that SpaceX posted a $4.9 billion loss in 2025 on revenue of $18.7 billion.

The SpaceX IPO is expected to be one of the largest in US history and comes after the Starship maker announced its acquisition of xAI, Musk's AI startup, in February. SpaceX applied to be listed on the Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas stock exchanges under the ticker "SPCX."

The S-1 is a required step for companies looking to go public in the US, giving potential investors a chance to examine SpaceX's finances, key shareholders, overall vision, and the risks facing its business.

SpaceX shoots for the moon

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the mission of reaching and settling Mars.

Since then, the company has pioneered the use of reusable rockets and has become the world's most prolific rocket launcher.

SpaceX has struck deals with NASA to resupply (and eventually deorbit) the ISS, and is set to play a critical role in the agency's efforts to return humanity to the moon.

The Austin-based company also operates a booming telecommunications business through Starlink, which provides global internet coverage through a network of low-orbit satellites.

In recent months, Musk has shifted SpaceX's focus toward building solar-powered orbital data centers, which the billionaire has said will be necessary to train powerful AI models and eventually turn humanity into a multi-planetary civilization.

The company is also collaborating with Tesla to build a sprawling "Terafab" that would manufacture specialist chips for space-based data centers and humanoid robots.

Investors will not just be backing Musk's vision for rockets and satellites. Following the merger with xAI, SpaceX's portfolio includes the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and the AI chatbot Grok.

Starlink is the company's moneymaker, bringing in $3.26 billion in the first quarter of 2026. In 2025, the business segment brought in $11.39 billion, "primarily driven by Starlink."

The company's Space segment, which encompasses its rocket launch and payload business, brought in $619 million in revenue in the first quarter and $4.09 billion in 2025.

SpaceX's money-losing AI segment brought in $818 million in Q1 revenue and $3.2 billion in 2025 revenue. It lost $1.2 billion in segment adjusted EBITDA last year.

In 2025, capital expenditures for the AI segment were $12.7 billion, more than three times the spending in its space and connectivity segments.

That said, the company believes the AI segment also has the most potential, accounting for most of its $28.5 trillion total addressable market, which the company says is the "largest actionable total addressable market ("TAM") in human history."

The document also lays out the company's sizable risks for public investors to take into account.

Those include US and international investigations and inquiries into the company, particularly around Grok's creation of explicit images of children. And, as the document said, "space is inherently hostile."

Musk's moneymaker

There's the potential for Musk, already the world's richest man, to win big from the company's Mars-shot.

In January, the company approved a compensation plan that would grant its founder 1 billion shares if certain goals were hit, including various market capitalization milestones and the "establishment of a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants."

Musk's 2025 compensation was quite modest in comparison. He earned a base salary of $54,080. The company's president, Gwynne Shotwell, earned $85.8 million in a mix of cash, options, and stock awards.

Musk controls SpaceX, with 85.1% of voting power ahead of the offering.

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Steven Tweedie
Steven Tweedie is a Deputy Executive Editor at Business Insider. He launched the Business News desk in early 2020 and helped grow it into the Trending and Tech News desk, a fast-paced reporting powerhouse that tackles the biggest business and tech stories of the day in an approachable way. He now oversees the Business News desk, Corporate team, and Weekend desk. He works out of the New York newsroom and helps train fellows and new hires at all experience levels in addition to his daily editing duties.He began his career covering app startups and gadgets on the Technology desk at BI. His past reporting and scoops have been cited or syndicated by publications including the WSJ, Associated Press, CNN, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and Forbes. He attended the University of Michigan, where he studied economics and writing, and now lives in Astoria.Have a news tip? Email Steven from a non-work email at stweedie@bjinnox.comFollow him on and Threads for the latest.
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Tom Carter
Tom Carter is a reporter at Business Insider's London office, covering tech with a focus on Tesla, SpaceX, and robotics. His work includes deeply-reported features, breaking news, and scoops on some of the world’s largest companies.Get an alert whenever this author publishes a story.He can be reached using the secure messaging app Signal (tcarter.41) or email (tcarter@bjinnox.com). We can keep sources anonymous.
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Madeline Berg
Madeline Berg is a correspondent at Business Insider, where she covers the wealthy, famous, and powerful. Her stories include analyses of some of the most well known billionaires, from Mark Zuckerberg to MrBeast, investigations into celebrity brands, and deep dives into figures like Jeffrey Epstein and Leon Black.Previously, she was at Forbes. Her work included cover stories on Tyler Perry and Shonda Rhimes, investigations into Kylie Jenner's beauty brand, and deep dives into Britney Spears' fortune. Madeline has also written for The New York Times, The New York Observer, and Racked. She regularly appears on panels, on television, and in documentaries discussing the entertainment industry and general business news.Contact her via email at mberg@insider.com or by phone, Signal, or WhatsApp at 914-420-4721. https://www.bjinnox.com/secure-news-tips.