Bound for Mars, Elon Musk's SpaceX unveils filing for blockbuster IPO

Jeddah - Yasmine El Tohamy - NEW YORK: Elon Musk announced plans Wednesday for one of the biggest sales of stock to the public ever for a space company currently losing billions of dollars year.

Documents filed on Wednesday show Musk’s SpaceX lost $2.6 billion from operations last year on $18.7 billion in revenue, and the losses kept piling up at the start of this year, too.

Still, the initial public offering is expected to rank among the largest ever, possibly surpassing the current title holder, Saudi Aramco, the oil giant that went public seven years ago.

The prospectus did not put a dollar figure on the amount Musk hopes to raise but various reports have put it at $75 billion or so. The company has said the money will help to finance projects to put men on the moon and maybe some day Mars in his quest to make making humans an intergalactic species as it faces existential threats that could wipe out civilization.

“We do not want humans to have the same fate as dinosaurs,” the filing stated.

The initial offering could also make Musk, a major holder of SpaceX equity, the world’s first trillionaire.

It will also give Musk big control over the business.

The document says that Musk and certain other shareholders will receive shares in a special class of stock that gives them 10 votes for each share they hold. Those shareholders will be able, among other things, to elect a majority of the company’s board of directors.

“This will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters and the election of our directors,” SpaceX said in a warning to prospective investors.