Aniket PujariTesla investors got an early Christmas present this past week: a possible stake in a hot initial public offering. Bloomberg reported that Elon Musk’s SpaceX might be headed for a 2026 initial public offering, raising up to $30 billion.
SpaceX is privately held but is the world’s most valuable aerospace and defense firm, at some $400 billion. SpaceX was reported to be aiming for a valuation as high as $1.5 trillion. This past Wednesday, Musk appeared to confirm the IPO plans, after earlier downplaying SpaceX’s need for cash. SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment.
What’s clear is that investors would like to own some of SpaceX, which accounts for more than half of all orbital launches and whose space-based broadband business, Starlink, has more than eight million subscribers. A SpaceX IPO would also fuel speculation that Musk might bring his tech empire under one roof. Tesla shareholders recently approved a nonbinding proposal that would authorize a Tesla investment in Musk’s artificial-intelligence company xAI, though many abstained from voting.
Tesla investing in either xAI or a SpaceX IPO could lead to a larger X Corp. “We would be shocked if Tesla does not take a stake in SpaceX as part of its process,” says Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. He sees Tesla’s AI efforts, which include robo-taxis and robots, leading to significant earnings growth. And while no one really knows what Musk’s plans are, investors can still dream.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
Last Week
Markets
The dollar slipped as investors awaited results of the Federal Reserve policy meeting. Stocks began the week down. President Trump launched more interviews for Fed chair as the Fed cut rates, in a divided vote, by a quarter-point. Oil rose after the U.S. seized a sanctioned oil tanker off Venezuela, then fell on Ukraine talks. Tech stocks plunged after Oracle missed on revenue and raised spending. On the week, the Dow industrials rose 1%, the S&P 500 lost 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.6%.
Companies
Trump announced a $12 billion one-time payment for farmers hurt by tariffs and allowed Nvidia to export its H200 chips to China, in exchange for a 25% cut. Berkshire Hathaway made executive changes, and Geico chief Todd Combs jumped to JPMorgan Chase to run a $10 billion bank fund. JPMorgan warned that expenses, mostly in the consumer business, would rise by $9 billion next year. Walt Disney agreed to license characters to OpenAI and invest $1 billion.
Deals
Trump questioned whether the $83 billion Netflix deal for Warner Bros. Discovery could pass regulatory muster. Paramount Skydance then bid $108 billion, with financing from Saudi, Qatari, and Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth funds, Red Bird Capital, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners…IBM agreed to buy data infrastructure firm Confluent for $11 billion…Unilever spun off Magnum Ice Cream, which owns Ben & Jerry’s, whose co-founders continued to argue for its independence.
Next Week
Tuesday 12/16
The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the jobs report for November, along with partial October data that were delayed by the record-long government shutdown. Economists forecast a 50,000 increase in nonfarm payrolls, after a 119,000 gain in September. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.4%. Jobs growth has slowed this year to 76,000 a month on average through September, less than half compared with the same period last year. Even the 76,000 figure may be high, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell said this past week that the April-through-September jobs data might have been overstated by 60,000 a month.
The Census Bureau reports retail sales statistics for October. Consensus estimate is for a 0.2% month-over-month increase, which would match September’s gain. Excluding autos, sales are seen rising 0.3%.
Thursday 12/18
The BLS releases the consumer price index for November. The consensus call is for a 3.1% increase from a year earlier. The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is expected to rise 3% year over year. This compares with readings of 3% for both indexes in September. The BLS couldn’t collect October inflation data due to the government shutdown.
The Numbers
$1.1 T
China’s trade surplus in goods for the first 11 months of 2025, the only time any nation topped $1 trillion.
$439 B
Amount borrowed by the U.S. two months into fiscal 2026, suggesting a $2 trillion deficit by year end.
$46 B
The amount raised by venture-capital funds in the first nine months of 2025, the lowest since 2017.
$1.23 T
Dealogic estimate of the volume of global M&A deals over $10 billion so far this year, a record.
Write to Robert Teitelman at bob.teitelman@dowjones.com
