SpaceX's $75 Billion IPO Is a Frenzy of Proxy Plays, Cash Shuffles, and Pension Fund Fury

Goldman Sachs is leading a syndicate of 21 banks for the offering, with final pricing set for after the close on June 11 and first trading on June 12 .

The scale and structure have generated intense demand. Multiple sources report the IPO is well oversubscribed with over $10 billion in confirmed institutional orders as of early June . Reuters reported the book was roughly two times covered, implying demand for around $150 billion worth of shares for the $75 billion raise . Banks planned to stop accepting institutional orders on June 10 to manage the overwhelming interest . To free up cash for allocations, analysts now estimate roughly $50 billion in selling pressure on other stocks as both institutional and retail portfolios are liquidated .

The Hunt for SpaceX in Asia's Restricted Markets

For many investors in mainland China and Hong Kong, buying SPCX directly on the Nasdaq is not a simple option due to capital controls and market access restrictions. Their response has been to chase exposure wherever they can find it, creating a surge in proxy buying across the region .

The most direct vehicle is the Tema Space Innovators ETF (NASA) , the only pure-play space ETF that holds a pre-IPO SpaceX position through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) . Tema reports that SpaceX exposure comprises less than 15% of the fund's holdings, but that has not stopped a wave of Asian retail demand from flowing into the ETF ahead of the listing .

The hunt has also spilled into the stock market, where investors are snapping up shares of Taiwan-based Starlink component manufacturers. Stocks like Chin-Poon Industrial and Wistron NeWeb have rallied sharply as traders pile into any name with a direct link to SpaceX's supply chain . The effect has rippled across the broader satellite, rocket, and space-adjacent sectors in the region, with many investors treating listed suppliers as the most accessible way to bet on SpaceX's future growth .

A Governance Structure with No Modern Precedent

While demand has been historic, SpaceX is headed for the public markets with a governance structure that has drawn fire from a formidable coalition of institutional investors. On May 13, 2026, three of the largest U.S. public pension systems—the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the New York State Common Retirement Fund, and the New York City pension funds—sent a joint letter to SpaceX objecting to what they termed a "novel and extreme" set of governance provisions .

The core of their objection focuses on Elon Musk's absolute control:

• Perpetual Super-Voting Shares: SpaceX's Class B shares carry outsized voting rights—reported as 10 votes per share—that never sunset. Musk owns the vast majority of these shares .
• Total Voting Dominance: As a result, a single founder controls roughly 85.1% of the voting power, granting him absolute authority over board composition, strategic direction, and all major shareholder votes . Bloomberg has reported that after the IPO, Musk will hold 84.4% of the voting power, meaning any major decision requires his approval .
• CEO Removal Restriction: Multiple sources state that Musk reportedly cannot be removed as CEO without his own consent—an almost unheard-of provision in a public company .
• Erosion of Shareholder Rights: Analysts note that public shareholders in the Class A stock will hold virtually no practical influence. The structure, as one analysis put it, effectively "transforms accountability to public shareholders from a legal obligation into something close to a voluntary gesture" .

The three pension funds collectively manage over $1 trillion in assets and have formally declared the proposed governance structure unacceptable for long-term public-market investors . Harvard Law professor Lucian Bebchuk, a prominent governance expert, has also criticized the arrangement, arguing that the governance defects "provide Musk with substantial value at the expense of public investors" and could produce "value-decreasing inefficiencies by distorting incentives and decisions" .

Despite the formal objections, there are no signs that SpaceX has altered its governance package. As the countdown to June 12 continues, the company is on track to make history—but the biggest-ever raise will also be a landmark test of whether public market investors are ultimately comfortable with a structure where their votes carry almost no weight.