Aniket PujariSpaceX could be a feast for investors in 2026.
Friday, Bloomberg reported that SpaceX had set a secondary share sale, which valued the startup at about $800 billion, citing a company memo. The price in the secondary offering was $421 a share, the report said, up from a July price of about $212 from a private market transaction.
SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to Barron’s request for comment.
The $800 billion figure would put SpaceX’s valuation above that of OpenAI, as well as that of TikTok’s parent ByteDance.
SpaceX is the dominant provider of space launch services, accounting for more than half of global orbital launches. Most of its value, however, is tied up in its profitable space-based broadband service Starlink, which currently has more than 8 million customers, up from about 5 million a year ago.
Beyond Starlink, investors are excited about the potential for artificial intelligence data centers in space after CEO Elon Musk recently tweeted about the idea. The data centers could be solar-powered and offer a lower-cost way to develop AI applications. SpaceX possesses launch capacity and the ability to scale the facilities rapidly via satellite manufacturing. Musk himself brings AI expertise from overseeing his startup, xAI.
AI data centers in space would also offer a way to link xAI, which owns the social media platform X, and the Musk-led Tesla. Tesla is putting AI into machines, including robotaxis, and eventually will place the technology in humanoid robots. Musk’s xAI is developing AI agents, such as Grok, that compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives believes Musk’s companies will eventually invest in one another. One way that could happen is a SpaceX IPO, which is now expected in 2026—thanks to another Musk tweet—at a valuation of up to $1.5 trillion. That number would make it one of the largest IPOs in history.
Before that happens, Echostar remains one of the best ways to get exposure to SpaceX stock, regardless of IPO timing. The satellite communications company has amassed about $11.1 billion in SpaceX stock by selling Musk’s rocket company wireless spectrum. That’s some 52 million shares at the July price, which are now worth some $22 billion.
Through Friday trading, Echostar stock has gained about 44%, adding $9.5 billion in market value since initial reports about an $800 billion valuation broke about a week ago. That is short of the $11.1 billion value gain, and it looks as if Echostar stock hasn’t reacted to the potential of a $1.5 trillion IPO valuation.
However, values between Echostar stock and SpaceX don’t have to line up one-to-one. There are factors to consider, among them tax efficiency, and investors holding Echostar have exposure to SpaceX, which is different from owning SpaceX. Still, tracking the value of Echostar is a good way to understand what the market is thinking about one of the most valuable and widely-followed private companies in the world.
An $800 billion valuation for SpaceX would increase Musk’s wealth by roughly $160 billion. He owns about 40% of the company, although the exact details aren’t publicly available.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
