SpaceX IPO Draws Avalanche of Demand, BlackRock Alone Orders $5B+

SpaceX's blockbuster $75 billion IPO — poised to be the largest public offering in history — is drawing staggering investor appetite heading into its planned Friday listing. BlackRock submitted an order for at least $5 billion worth of shares, while other major asset managers placed similarly outsized bids. To put the scale in perspective, the year's largest IPO before SpaceX was chip designer Cerebras, which raised just $5.55 billion in total.

Retail investors alone requested well over $70 billion in shares, and sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and institutional players piled on further. One family office submitted a single order exceeding $1 billion. The order book closed Wednesday, with bankers now allocating shares ahead of the listing. Elon Musk has signaled he wants to direct an unusually large slice — potentially around 30% — to individual investors, a break from typical IPO convention.

The offering itself is unconventional in multiple ways. Musk set a fixed price of $135 per share with no price range or investor feedback mechanism, a stark departure from standard IPO practice. SpaceX is currently unprofitable, and its roughly $1.77 trillion valuation rests heavily on the future potential of its nascent AI division. Musk will also retain an unprecedented degree of control over the company post-listing, drawing fire from corporate governance critics.

External headwinds haven't dampened enthusiasm. Renewed Middle East conflict rattled markets Wednesday — the Dow logged its worst single-day drop since October — and President Trump's threats of new strikes on Iran added further uncertainty. Typically, such conditions trigger IPO delays or downsizings, but SpaceX's bankers are pressing forward, confident the deal will close on schedule.