NEW YORK, May 21, 2026, 04:12 EDT
- Antonio Gracias, who started Valor Equity Partners, holds roughly 7.3% of SpaceX’s Class A shares. He’s the biggest named shareholder after Elon Musk.
- The stake could hit about $91.6 billion if SpaceX is valued at $1.5 trillion, and even higher if the IPO brings the target of roughly $1.75 trillion that’s been reported.
- The filing also listed over $20 billion in AI infrastructure lease obligations tied to Valor-linked entities. That adds another governance issue for investors.
Antonio Gracias, who runs Valor Equity Partners and has close ties to Elon Musk, is in line for a major windfall from SpaceX’s coming IPO. A regulatory filing showed entities linked to Gracias control about 7.3% of SpaceX’s Class A shares. Business Insider put the stake at around $91.6 billion at a $1.5 trillion company value. The Wall Street Journal said it could clear $100 billion if the IPO values SpaceX at $1.5 trillion or higher.
SpaceX has cracked open its financials as it eyes what could be the biggest IPO ever, Reuters says, with a target value around $1.75 trillion and an expected Nasdaq debut June 12. The filing spells out a tougher question for public investors: Is SpaceX’s worth coming more from Starlink and rockets, or does it depend on Musk’s large AI and space-computing bet?
Gracias isn’t just another name on the cap table. Bloomberg Law said he’s backed SpaceX since 2008 and sits on its board. Business Insider reported Valor became one of the first major institutional investors in SpaceX and built its position as the company stayed private for over twenty years.
SpaceX’s filing raised questions about ownership as it detailed ties that go beyond a typical VC win. Reuters said the company showed over $20 billion in related-party AI infrastructure leases. These come from equipment deals involving subsidiaries tied to xAI and Valor Equity Partners. Valor’s founder is also a SpaceX board member.
SpaceX said some transactions tied to Valor were counted as failed sale-leaseback deals, so it listed the related obligations as debt instead of asset sales. SpaceX reported $885 million in payments under these deals for 2025 and $857 million for January and February 2026. Valor did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies Corp., plans to list shares under the SPCX ticker on both Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan are among the bookrunners named. Reuters said the roadshow could kick off June 4, with pricing as early as June 11 and trading slated for the next day.
SpaceX lost money even as revenue grew, according to Bloomberg News via NDTV Profit. The company had revenue of $18.7 billion in 2025, up from $14 billion the year before, but reported a $4.94 billion loss after making a $791 million profit. For the first quarter, SpaceX posted a $4.28 billion net loss on $4.69 billion in revenue.
Starlink is still the main selling point. The satellite-internet business made up almost two-thirds of first-quarter revenue, Bloomberg News said. Subscribers hit 8.9 million in 2025, up from 4.4 million in 2024 and 2.3 million in 2023.
Investors face the risk of buying into a company pushing harder on AI, data centers, and yet-to-be-built space infrastructure. Reuters reported that SpaceX’s AI unit posted a $2.47 billion loss on $818 million in revenue for the first quarter, and spending linked to xAI represented 76% of SpaceX’s $10.1 billion in capital outlays for the period.
George Ferguson, senior defense analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said in a note the S-1 filing shows the launch unit is “loss-making” due to large R&D spending. Faster work on Starship would mean more cash burn, Ferguson said. Starship is a key part of SpaceX’s future, but the company told investors that any delays or design changes could push up costs and draw resources from other programs. NDTV Profit
Control is a factor too. The filing says Musk holds 12.3% of SpaceX’s Class A stock and 93.6% of the Class B, which adds up to 85.1% of total voting rights. That’s because each Class B share has 10 votes, while Class A shares come with just one vote each for public buyers.
Reena Aggarwal, a finance professor at Georgetown University, told Reuters there’s a “halo effect” around Musk. She said valuing companies like SpaceX isn’t easy since there’s no direct peer. That can help or hurt. Blue Origin is still behind SpaceX in reusable rockets, but investors haven’t really had to put a price on a company that does launches, broadband satellites, AI infrastructure, and Mars plans in one public listing. Reuters
For Gracias and Valor, an IPO would put a number on a massive private-market wager that’s been running for years. For new investors, it pins the question to SpaceX’s business: can it keep up enough growth as a public company to justify such a high valuation, especially with its founder’s grip and related-party deals getting market attention?
