SpaceX IPO Is A $1.77 Trillion Bet On An Orbital Economy

BreakingInnovationScienceSpaceX IPO Is A $1.77 Trillion Bet On An Orbital EconomyByJamie Carter,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky.Follow AuthorJun 09, 2026, 03:31am EDTToplineMost people assume the upcoming SpaceX initial public offering (IPO) of shares on the Nasdaq stock index — where shares will sell for $135 each — is a bet on rockets. Yet rockets may ultimately be the least important reason to invest. The SpaceX IPO could be a bet on a new economy in low Earth orbit. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) weather satellite Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U (GOES-U) lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, June 25, 2024. (Photo by MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty ImagesKey FactsSpaceX, valued at roughly $350 billion in 2024, will see its IPO valuation reach $1.77 trillion.SpaceX now operates more than 10,000 active Starlink satellites, about two-thirds of all working satellites in orbit. It has plans to launch to 20,000. It has 10.3 million subscribers across 164 countries.Starlink generated an operating profit of $1.19 billion in the first quarter of 2026, according to Reuters, but the company reported a total operating loss of $1.94 billion on $4.69 billion in revenue.The company is formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corporation and will list under the symbol SPCX. if (!window.cnxel) { window.cnxel = {}; window.cnxel.cmd = []; var iframe = document.createElement('iframe'); iframe.style.display = 'none'; iframe.onload = function() { var iframeDoc = iframe.contentWindow.document; var script = iframeDoc.createElement('script'); script.src = '//cd.elements.video/player.js?cid=62cec241-7d09-4462-afc2-f72f8d8ef40a'; script.setAttribute('defer', '1'); script.setAttribute('type', 't...