SpaceX IPO could reward Musk and inner circle

Elon Musk’s grip on SpaceX is already built into the company’s share structure, even before its planned public debut. The filing also points to a small group of 5% shareholders as the people most likely to benefit if the stock performs well after the IPO.

Musk holds just under 850 million Class A shares, with one vote per share, and nearly 5.6 billion Class B shares, which carry 10 votes each. That total includes the billion shares tied to the condition that a million people are living on Mars in a SpaceX company-town colony.

The company has not said how many shares it will sell or at what price. Still, the whisper number on the street is that the IPO will raise $75 billion at a post-money valuation of $1.7 trillion, which would make even a 1% stake worth $17 billion.

Among the biggest holders is Antonio Gracias, an investor and board member, with just over 503.4 million shares. He is founder and CEO of Valor Management and a long-time Musk friend, pro-Musk board member and financier.

Gracias was on Tesla’s board from its startup days through the years after its IPO. He also served on the board of Musk’s solar company Solar City during its controversial sale to Tesla, and he has backed and held board roles for Neuralink and The Boring Company. He was also among the financiers who agreed to fund Musk’s failed attempted hostile takeover of OpenAI for $97 billion in early 2025.

Luke Nosek, another investor and board member, holds nearly 33 million shares. He is a co-founder of venture investment firm Gigafund and a fellow PayPal mafia member.

Nosek joined Peter Thiel at Founders Fund during its early days and led Founders’ first investment into Space X. He took a board seat then and has remained on the board ever since. Gigafund also backs The Boring Company and Neuralink.

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX COO, has nearly 12.6 million shares. She has been with SpaceX since 2002 and has been COO since 2008.

In 2025, Shotwell received a large tranche of restricted stock units, bringing her total compensation to $85.8 million that year. Bret Johnsen, the CFO, holds nearly 9.6 million shares and has been SpaceX’s CFO since 2011.

Johnsen previously held CFO and financier roles in the semiconductor industry. Ira Ehrenpreis, an investor and board member, has 809,050 shares and has been on the SpaceX board since February 2026.

Ehrenpreis is a founder and managing member of VC firm DBL Partnershas and also sits on Tesla’s board. Randy Glein, another investor and board member, holds 277,800 shares and is co-founder and managing partner of DFJ Growth.

SpaceX has raised around $30 billion in private capital to date from hundreds of investors, according Pitchbook estimates. The company said Series A investors paid $1 per share, Series F investors paid $7.50 and the final investors, in Series N, paid $270 a share.