Why is SpaceX going public?

Tech AI Business Why is SpaceX going public? Surely we’re not taking datacenters in space seriously. by Elizabeth Lopatto Mar 3, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC I can’t be the only person befuddled by this IPO. | Image: Laura Normand / The Verge Tech AI Business Why is SpaceX going public? Surely we’re not taking datacenters in space seriously. by Elizabeth Lopatto Mar 3, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC Elizabeth Lopatto is a reporter who writes about tech, money, and human behavior. She joined The Verge in 2014 as science editor. Previously, she was a reporter at Bloomberg. I am excited about the SpaceX IPO for all the reasons investors shouldn’t be. Maybe it’ll be a real marquee moment for Silicon Valley, but I see the potential for a shitshow. After all, more than a decade ago, Musk said that SpaceX going public before going to Mars would be bad for the company. Are private markets tapped out on cash to fund SpaceX ambitions? Elon Musk has been very clear about his feelings on publicly traded companies . Specifically: He doesn’t like them! “I am hesitant to foist being public on SpaceX, especially given the long term nature of our mission.” In 2013, Musk sent an email to SpaceX, which his biographer Ashlee Vance reprinted in his book, saying he didn’t want to take the company public until his Mars transport system is in place. Tesla went public because it “didn’t have any choice,” Musk wrote in a memo to SpaceX employees in 2013. “I am hesitant to foist being public on SpaceX, especially given the long term nature of our mission.” An IPO can raise a lot of money for a company while letting longtime investors exit. But there’s a price. It’s possible the private market has overvalued the company or the financials don’t look as good as everyone hoped. And it’s much easier for investors to bail on a public company than a private one. There are other things Musk cited in his 2013 memo, too. “Public companies are judged on quarterly performance,” he wrote. If SpaceX had a bad quarter as a public ...