NEW YORK — SpaceX is leaning toward a Nasdaq listing for what could become the largest initial public offering ever, according to a Reuters report citing four people familiar with the company’s thinking, while the Elon Musk-led company also seeks a path to earlier Nasdaq-100 inclusion, March 10. The strategy would give the offering a better shot at attracting passive index money sooner and broadening liquidity after debut if Nasdaq’s new framework is adopted.
The venue is not settled. Reuters reported that the New York Stock Exchange is also competing for the mandate, that neither exchange has been told it has won, and that SpaceX’s plans could still change. SpaceX did not return a Reuters request for comment.
Why the SpaceX IPO is tilting toward Nasdaq
The heart of Nasdaq’s pitch is timing. Under the current Nasdaq-100 methodology, new constituents generally enter through the annual reconstitution process, a structure that can leave newly public companies waiting months for index admission. In a separate February 2026 consultation on the index rules, Nasdaq proposed a “Fast Entry” path for newly listed companies whose entire market capitalization ranks inside the top 40 current constituents, with at least five trading days’ notice and addition after 15 trading days.
That proposal is not final, but the math explains why SpaceX is drawn to it. Nasdaq said a top-40 ranking as of Dec. 31, 2025, would have meant a total market capitalization above roughly $100 billion. At the valuation range circulating around the company, SpaceX would clear that bar with room to spare, making earlier inclusion conceivable rather than theoretical.
Valuation expectations keep stretching higher around the SpaceX IPO
That backdrop has shifted fast. In a Feb. 27 Reuters report on Bloomberg’s account of a possible confidential filing, SpaceX was described as exploring an IPO that could value the company at more than $1.75 trillion. Weeks earlier, Reuters reviewed a December shareholder letter tied to a secondary sale in which Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen said SpaceX was preparing for a possible 2026 IPO even as the company’s private-market valuation was set at $800 billion.
If public investors were eventually willing to price the company near the top of that reported range, the deal would be unprecedented in size. Just as important, it would place SpaceX among the largest U.S. companies from day one, which is exactly why index timing has become central to the exchange decision rather than a technical detail left for later.
Why early index entry matters to the SpaceX IPO
For a company this large, early inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 would do more than add prestige. It would force index-tracking funds and other passive vehicles to buy shares, likely deepening the shareholder base and improving trading liquidity. That matters not only for institutional buyers trying to build positions, but also for early holders who will eventually face lockup expirations and a market that must absorb any wave of insider selling.
Nasdaq’s proposal appears designed with that kind of blockbuster listing in mind. Reuters reported that the exchange’s fast-entry idea is being marketed as a way to attract richly valued private companies whose debuts would otherwise arrive too late for immediate inclusion. In SpaceX’s case, the company’s reported interest in earlier entry suggests it does not want to wait a standard cycle if it finally opens the doors to public investors.
The SpaceX IPO story has been building for years
Today’s listing debate also fits a longer pattern. Back in June 2021, Reuters reported that Musk said Starlink would go public only when cash flow was “reasonably predictable”, establishing an early condition for any eventual flotation. In November 2023, Reuters reported that Musk denied a report of a Starlink IPO as soon as 2024, a reminder that the company was still publicly resisting near-term timing. Then, in November 2024, Reuters reported that a SpaceX tender offer would value the company at more than $250 billion, showing how quickly private-market expectations were climbing even before 2025’s sharper jump.
That arc makes the latest Nasdaq-focused reporting feel less like a sudden pivot than the next step in a slow march from conditional IPO talk to venue competition, index negotiations and valuation targets that would reset the ceiling for modern listings.
For now, the key caveats remain. No public prospectus has appeared, Nasdaq’s fast-entry mechanism is still only a proposal, and the NYSE remains in the hunt. But if the exchange choice and the rule change line up, the SpaceX IPO could arrive with an unusual advantage: a realistic path to blue-chip index inclusion almost as soon as the stock starts trading.
