By Al Root

SpaceX has picked Goldman Sachs to lead its moonshot initial public offering. The revelation is another sign that the IPO is moving along.

Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Goldman had won the top-left position on SpaceX's IPO registration statement, indicating it is the lead banker. SpaceX didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Goldman is one of the largest investment banks in the world. Lead bankers have some extra work, like running the order process and ensuring stable trading after the IPO wraps up.

Typically, the number of bankers and who is leading an IPO isn't breaking news. But this is SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket company. For SpaceX, everything is news.

The record-setting IPO is expected to value the company at up to $2 trillion. The tens of billions raised will kick-start SpaceX's AI business. SpaceX merged with xAI in February and plans to put AI data centers in orbit.

In late March or early April, SpaceX filed confidential IPO documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as many companies do.

Documents are made public weeks before an IPO roadshow, during which companies ask investors for money. After the roadshow, the lead banker and others take orders for the soon-to-be-issued stock and finish the IPO process.

Investors are still waiting for the S-1 statement, which CNBC says will be made public this week. Investors are also waiting for the 12th test of SpaceX's huge Starship launch system, which can cut costs to reach orbit by as much as 90%, helping SpaceX's AI data centers compete with those on the ground.

Once the IPO is completed. There will be a deal "tombstone," which is essentially a piece of glass memorializing the deal with details like money raised and the company name. Typically, they sit in bankers' offices. That's something investors might be able to find on eBay at some point in the future.

Goldman stock is up 1.1% in premarket trading at $938.98, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.5%. Morgan Stanley stock was up 0.7% in premarket trading. JPMorgan Chase stock was up 0.4%.

SpaceX might be giving Goldman stock a nudge. IPOs are a way Goldman and its peers make money, this is shaping up to be a very big year for IPOs, with SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic all likely to go public.

Those massive IPOs will have an effect. Goldman has a shot at a record year. It reported earnings per share of $59.45 in 2021. The current analyst estimate for 2026 is $59.28.

Coming into Wednesday trading, Goldman's stock was up 53% over the past 12 months. Gains left shares trading for about 21 times earnings, similar to a year ago. With the same P/E ratio, most of the stock gains have come from earnings growth.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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May 20, 2026 11:03 ET (15:03 GMT)

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