SpaceX Tender Offer Is Said to Value Company at $140 Billion

December 13, 2022 /Bloomberg/ -- Elon Musk’s SpaceX is offering to sell insider shares at a price that would raise the closely held company’s valuation to about $140 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., as the company is formally called, is offering the shares for $77 apiece, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information wasn’t public. The $140 billion figure compares with a $127 billion valuation in July, according to data provider PitchBook.

In recent weeks, SpaceX had held conversations for a range of prices but ultimately settled on $140 billion for the valuation in a tender offer, the people said. It couldn’t be immediately learned whether the company will seek to raise capital in a primary funding round at that valuation.

A representative for SpaceX, the most valuable private company in the US, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, dominates the market for commercial space launch. The company sends payload to orbit for private sector customers, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other government agencies. It also ferries astronauts to and from the International Space Station for NASA, and has run the first private space tourism mission for civilians to orbit the earth for several days.

The closely held company, led by Musk, the world’s richest man, is also building a constellation of thousands of Starlink satellites to beam broadband internet coverage to the Earth below. Musk has previously said Starlink could be spun off in a public listing once cash flow is more predictable. In June 2021, Musk said the company would need to invest $20 billion to $30 billion to maintain Starlink’s competitive position.

Musk, the world’s richest man, has a net worth of almost $168 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His stake in SpaceX was valued at around $47 billion, according to the index.

— With assistance by Edward Ludlow

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