The largest IPO in history isn't asking investors to value what exists today. It's asking them to decide what the future might be worth.

The Savage Take is where EasyEquities CEO Charles Savage shares what he’s seeing, learning and thinking about each week, in markets, business and the bigger shifts shaping how people build wealth and ownership.

From Charles

Twenty years ago, the idea that ordinary investors could own part of a company building reusable rockets, global satellite internet, and orbital AI infrastructure would have sounded ridiculous.

Next week, they might be able to.

SpaceX begins its investor roadshow this week. Pricing is scheduled for 11 June, with SPCX expected to begin trading on Nasdaq on 12 June.

At a targeted valuation of around $1.8 trillion, this is set to become the largest IPO in history.

Saudi Aramco raised $29 billion when it listed in 2019. SpaceX is expected to raise up to $75 billion. More than twice the previous record.

That alone makes it historic. But the size is not the story. The story is what investors are actually being asked to buy.

What You Are Buying

SpaceX looks like a rocket company. It isn't.

Today, Starlink is the economic engine of the business. What began as an ambitious side project has become one of the world's largest satellite communications networks and the primary source of SpaceX's revenue and profitability.

The launch business remains strategically critical. SpaceX dominates commercial launches globally and sits at the centre of both NASA's future plans and America's national security infrastructure. It may not be the biggest revenue contributor, but it is arguably the most difficult part of the business to replicate.

Then there is xAI.

Earlier this year, SpaceX acquired Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company. Unlike Starlink, xAI is not currently generating meaningful profits. It is consuming enormous amounts of capital in pursuit of future opportunity.

The result is a fascinating combination.

• One part generates cash.

• One part launches rockets.

• One part spends billions imagining what comes next.

Investors are being asked to value all three together.

The Bull Case

The argument for SpaceX is surprisingly simple.

Every truly transformational company looks expensive before it changes the world.

The SpaceX vision is that communications, connectivity, artificial intelligence and eventually computing itself become increasingly tied to infrastructure in space.

That sounds ambitious because it is.

But reusable rockets once sounded ambitious too.

So did landing them. So did building a global internet network from orbit.

The company has developed a habit of turning improbable ideas into operating businesses.

The Bear Case

The valuation is impossible to ignore.

At nearly $2 trillion, investors are paying for a future that has not yet arrived.

The governance structure is another consideration. Through a dual-class share structure, Elon Musk will retain overwhelming control of the company even after listing. Investors buying SPCX will own an economic interest in the business but will have very limited influence over how it is run.

There is also the question of xAI. The acquisition transformed SpaceX from a highly profitable infrastructure business into a company willing to absorb enormous losses in pursuit of future opportunity. That may prove visionary. It may prove expensive. The market will decide.

There is one more question investors need to answer.

How much of this valuation belongs to SpaceX, and how much belongs to Elon Musk?

If these exact assets were owned by a less celebrated founder, would the market still pay close to $2 trillion?

Probably not.

Would it pay $1 trillion? Perhaps.

Which means investors may be paying hundreds of billions of dollars for something that does not appear on the balance sheet.

Belief

SpaceX carries a Musk premium.

Investors are not simply buying satellites, launch infrastructure and AI capability. They are buying a track record of repeatedly attempting things that look impossible and occasionally making them look inevitable.

Whether that premium proves justified may ultimately determine whether this becomes one of the greatest investments of the decade or one of the most expensive acts of optimism in market history.

Why This Matters

This IPO is large enough that it will not simply enter the market.

It will reshape the market around it.

Index funds will eventually become buyers.

Institutions are already positioning.

Retail demand has been building for months.

Even the allocation itself is unusual, with a significant portion of shares expected to be made available to individual investors.

Most IPOs arrive.

This one is a moonshot.

And for many investors, this may become one of those market moments they remember years from now.

Not because everyone who buys it will make money. But because everyone will have an opinion.

For EasyEquities Investors

When SPCX begins trading, it will be available on the EasyEquities US platform.

For South African investors, a company that has largely existed behind private-market walls suddenly becomes available at a transparent market price, accessible from the same account used to buy ETFs, shares, and global investments.

Whether you choose to invest or simply watch from the sidelines, it is worth understanding what is happening.

It is one of the defining market events of the decade.

Markets

US equities closed at record highs on Friday. The S&P 500 notched its ninth consecutive week of gains, buoyed by continued AI enthusiasm and easing geopolitical concerns.

Tech led the way. Dell surged nearly 33% following earnings, its best single day on record.

Gold held above $4,500 and Oil slipped modestly.

The rand traded around R16.23 to the dollar, near its strongest levels of the past 90 days.

The Savage Take

For most of human history, investment meant funding things on Earth.

• Railways.

• Mines.

• Factories.

• Banks.

• Networks.

Every generation believes its frontier is the final one.

Then a new frontier appears.

That is what makes this listing so fascinating.

SpaceX is not really an IPO. A signal that the next great economic frontier may not be another country, another technology platform, or another industry.

It may be above us.

Whether SpaceX ultimately justifies a $2 trillion valuation is almost secondary.

The more important question is whether we are witnessing the moment space moved from science fiction to an investable asset class.

If that happens, historians will look back on this listing very differently from the way markets judge it next week.

They will remember it not because it was the biggest IPO in history.

They will remember it because it marked the moment the public was invited aboard.

One final thought.

SpaceX may be the largest IPO in history, but in many ways it is also the ultimate referendum on Elon Musk.

Love him or loathe him, no entrepreneur of his generation has repeatedly attempted projects at this scale across so many industries.

• Electric vehicles.

• Reusable rockets.

• Satellite internet.

• Artificial intelligence.

Most people would be remembered for succeeding at one.

His supporters believe SpaceX deserves its valuation because Musk has earned the right to be believed.

His critics argue that investors are paying too much for ambition and not enough attention to economics.

Both may be right.

Because there is undoubtedly a Musk premium embedded in this listing.

The question is whether that premium reflects celebrity or capability.

History suggests they are not always the same thing.

This listing will do more than test the valuation of SpaceX.

It may ultimately define the legacy of Elon Musk himself.

And perhaps, in a small way, yours too.

Listings like this have a way of making our corner of the world feel very small.

But modern investment platforms have changed that.

You no longer need to live in New York, London, or Silicon Valley to participate in the companies shaping the future. From Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Gqeberha, or a small town in the Karoo, you can own the same shares as investors anywhere else on the planet.

That is one of the great democratising forces of our time.

The frontier may be thousands of kilometres above us, but the opportunity to participate has never been closer.

So make sure you're ready for lift-off.

12 June is coming.

The world is not waiting.

What you do next is the only thing that matters.

Stay Savage,

Charles

 The Savage Take is published weekly.
Opinions are Charles Savage’s own. Not financial advice. 

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