SpaceX Corp. is reportedly gearing up for a bumper secondary sale that could be one of its last before going public.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that the offering is set to value the aerospace company at $800 billion. If the deal materializes, SpaceX Corp. would surpass OpenAI Group PBC as the world’s most valuable private company. The ChatGPT developer is currently valued at $500 billion.

A secondary sale is a transaction in which a company’s employees and investors offload some of their shares. SpaceX organizes such stock deals twice a year. Shortly before the company’s previous secondary sale in June, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk stated that it was on track to end 2025 with sales of $15.5 billion.

SpaceX generates a growing portion of its revenue from its Starlink internet service. Starlink is powered by a constellation of more than 9,000 satellites deployed a few hundred miles above Earth. The satellites are perched lower than traditional internet constellations, which enables them to provide faster connectivity.

SpaceX says that Starlink is used by millions of consumers worldwide. The company also provides an enterprise version of the service, Starlink for Businesses, that comes with customer support and significantly higher throughout. The priciest business plan provides 2 terabytes of bandwidth per month for fixed-site deployments.

Business customers connect to Starlink using a device called the Starlink Performance. Its transmitter has a larger surface area than SpaceX’s standard antennas, which enables it to connect to more satellites at once for better network performance. The device has a ruggedized aluminum enclosure designed to withstand challenging weather.

According to The Information, SpaceX plans to follow up its $800 billion secondary with an initial public offering. The company has reportedly told investors and financial institutions that it plans to list its shares in the second half of 2026. The proceeds from an IPO could make it easier for SpaceX to finance pricey projects such as Starlink and Starship, the planned successor to its Falcon rocket.

Starship is a 400-foot-tall launch vehicle with 33 motors. It comprises two systems: a first stage tasked with taking it to orbit and a spacecraft that can carry up to 150 metric tons of cargo. Both vehicles are reusable, which could enable them to operate more cost-efficiently than traditional launch vehicles.

SpaceX faces competition from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin LLC, which recently completed the first successful landing of its reusable New Glenn rocket. The latter company is also supporting Amazon.com Inc.’s efforts to take on Starlink. Blue Origin will launch some of the internet satellites that the retail and cloud giant plans to deploy as part of its Amazon Leo connectivity initiative. 

Photo: Unsplash