SpaceX is considering a dual-class share structure in its planned initial public offering (IPO) this year, according to people familiar with the matter, mirroring a strategy its billionaire founder Elon Musk floated for Tesla Inc.
A two-tier structure would give select shareholders stock with extra voting power that would allow them to dominate decision-making. The move would allow insiders such as Musk to maintain control of the company even with a minority stake.
The US rocket and satellite maker is also in the process of adding members to its board of directors, the people said, to help steer the IPO and drive Musk’s space ambitions beyond its core rocket and satellite business.
SpaceX is seeking to hold an IPO later this year, in a deal that could raise as much as US$50 billion (RM195.37 billion) to fund AI data centres in space and a factory on the moon. SpaceX recently acquired Musk’s xAI, moving the company beyond its core businesses into artificial intelligence (AI).
Deliberations are ongoing and details of the IPO could change, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. A SpaceX representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dual class shares are common among US technology firms including Meta Platforms Inc and Google parent Alphabet Inc, and tend to be pitched as a way to enable founders to focus on a longer-term vision. The structure typically gives founders and insiders 10 or even 20 votes for each of their shares compared with only one vote for ordinary shares, which critics say makes them less accountable.
Under a dual-class structure that gives Musk super-voting shares, the billionaire would establish a bulwark against activist shareholders exerting changes at the company against his wishes.
Musk has praised the tiered structure and proposed the creation of a dual class of Tesla shares to have at least 25% voting control in the company, threatening to build his AI and robotics products elsewhere if he can’t achieve that level of influence. “That’s not so much that I could control the company, even if I go bonkers,” he said in 2024. Though he currently has about 11% of the shares, his new US$1 trillion compensation package could expand his stake to 25% or more over the next decade.
SpaceX has discussed the feasibility of a tie-up between SpaceX and Tesla, an idea that some investors are pushing, Bloomberg News has reported.
-Bloomberg