SpaceX demands record-low 0.75% fee rate for $75 billion IPO

SpaceX is pressing investment banks to accept a record-low underwriting fee rate of under 0.75% for its $75 billion initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said, a demand that would disrupt decades of Wall Street fee conventions even as it generates one of the largest-ever paydays for the banks involved.

"The fee structure reflects SpaceX's leverage in what is the most anticipated IPO in history," said Tom Brennan, an IPO and M&A analyst. "No underwriter walks away from a $75 billion deal, even at compressed margins."

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are serving as lead left underwriters in a syndicate of 22 banks, according to the people. Even at the sub-0.75% rate — well below the typical 3% to 5% range for large IPOs — the total fee pool would still rank among the largest ever, potentially exceeding $550 million. The figure represents the base fee and excludes discretionary incentives the company may award.

The fee negotiation comes as SpaceX barrels toward a mid-June Nasdaq listing under the ticker SPCX, after filing its S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 20. The company is targeting a valuation as high as $1.75 trillion, which would make it the fifth-most valuable publicly traded company globally, trailing only Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia and Saudi Aramco. At that valuation, the IPO would dwarf the previous record holder, Alibaba's $25 billion debut in 2014.

The aggressive fee demand signals how the balance of power in IPO underwriting has shifted toward issuers with outsized market appeal. Traditional fee rates have been under pressure for years — the average large-cap IPO fee has fallen from roughly 4% in the 2000s to about 2.5% today, according to Dealogic data. SpaceX's ask would reset that floor.

The company's negotiating position has been strengthened by a string of recent wins. On May 29, the U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion contract to build a satellite network for airborne target tracking under the Golden Dome missile-defense program. That followed a $2.29 billion Space Data Network Backbone contract on May 26, bringing the company's new Pentagon work to roughly $6.4 billion in a single week.

SpaceX's S-1 filing revealed $18.7 billion in 2025 revenue, split among Starlink ($11.4 billion), rocket launch services ($4.1 billion) and its recently acquired xAI unit ($3.2 billion). The company posted a net loss of $4.94 billion last year, driven largely by AI infrastructure spending.

For Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the mandate carries prestige value that transcends the immediate fee income. A successful SpaceX listing would cement their positions atop equity capital markets league tables and likely lead to future mandates from the company's anticipated secondary offerings and debt issuances. The remaining 20 banks in the syndicate will receive proportionally smaller shares of the fee pool.

The IPO roadshow is expected to begin as soon as this week, with institutional investors getting their first detailed look at SpaceX's financials and growth projections. The company has reserved up to 5% of shares for purchase by employees and select individuals through a direct share program managed by Morgan Stanley.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.