SpaceX, the aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company, has seen its valuation dramatically increase, now surpassing Amazon to become the world's fifth most valuable company. Its market capitalisation has rocketed past £2.1 trillion, driven by a significant surge in its stock price following its recent initial public offering (IPO) and a strategic acquisition.
The company's shares experienced a 20% climb on Monday, followed by an additional 8% rise in early trading on Tuesday. This rapid appreciation has added an astonishing £790 billion to SpaceX's valuation since its shares first became available for public trading last Friday. The substantial increase is particularly notable given that SpaceX reported a loss of £3.9 billion on revenues of £14.8 billion last year, in stark contrast to Amazon's £61 billion profit on £565 billion in sales during the same period.
A primary catalyst for the most recent stock price surge was SpaceX's announcement of its acquisition of AI coding startup Cursor. This all-stock deal is valued at approximately £47 billion. The move follows an earlier collaboration between SpaceX and Cursor, which CEO Elon Musk had hinted at in April, mentioning a rebuilding effort for his AI company, xAI, now integrated within SpaceX.
SpaceX's historic IPO debuted with an initial valuation of around £1.3 trillion and successfully raised nearly £68 billion for the company. Experts had previously predicted that the limited availability of shares – only about 4% of its total stock was offered for trading – could lead to heightened volatility and significant price swings, a prediction that appears to have been borne out by the market's reaction.
The company has also been diversifying its revenue streams, recently securing compute leasing agreements with AI firm Anthropic and tech giant Google. These new ventures, combined with its core space exploration and satellite internet services, underscore SpaceX's ambition to expand its technological footprint and financial base.