- SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell said she initially had doubts about going public.
- She also spoke up on the possibility of a merger between Tesla and SpaceX.
- SpaceX has priced its stock at $135 per equity.
The initial public offering (IPO) of Elon Musk's SpaceX is set to rewrite history with a $1.77 trillion valuation and a Nasdaq debut on June 12. But the road to the listing wasn't easy, with even some of the company's top officials initially unconvinced about the need to go public.
SpaceX's Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell was one of them. In an interview, she told CNBC why she initially had doubts about the company going public and the possibility of a merger with another Elon Musk company, Tesla.
“I wasn't sure we would go public,” Gwynne Shotwell said, adding, “It actually feels like the right time now.”
She explained that the company initially remained private to focus on its long-term financial goals. Eight years ago, she had claimed that SpaceX would launch an IPO probably when it was doing regular missions to Mars.
“Today, across SpaceX's various businesses, the building blocks of a publicly traded company are now in place,” she said.
SpaceX COO On Potential Merger With Tesla
SpaceX's amended IPO stated that the rocket maker could issue “significant equity” to fund future transactions, leading to speculation that a merger with Tesla could be on the horizon.
Shotwell claimed, “I do think M&A is in the future, especially when you look at the AI world.”
Speaking about the possibility of merging SpaceX and Tesla, she said a deal like that might make Musk's life “a little easier.”
While admitting that there's a “convergence of what we're all trying to accomplish in the future”, Shotwell said her focus right now was on keeping rockets in production, getting to the International Space Station, and “critically providing broadband to folks that don't have access.”
Shotwell joined the company in 2002. Over the years, she's led the firm from rocket development to Starlink's creation and the integration of xAI.
“Look at our track record, look at our history. We do really difficult things. We do bring them to product level. In fact, xAI is definitely starting to be product-focused,” she added.
Shotwell said that she did not want to focus too much on quarterly earnings and claimed that people who invest in SpaceX must know that the company is doing things that are “very futuristic.”
SpaceX has priced its stock at $135 apiece. The size of the company's list is over double that of Saudi Aramco's $29.4 billion IPO in 2019.
