Investor's Corner
[Updated] Insider reveals possible SpaceX IPO, Tesla shareholders will reportedly have early access
SpaceX is preparing to IPO this year, according to a leaked report posted to a trading forum and tipped off to Teslarati. A user by the name of Jushuatree provides very specific detail in what will likely be the most anticipated and talked about IPO in the last decade.
Updated: SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell issued a statement confirming that there are no plans for a SpaceX initial public offering, contrary to Empire Capital’s original communication to its investors.
Updated: Teslarati was able to connect with Empire Capital Partners via phone call and speak to a representative in regards to the reported email sent by the firm. Empire Capital Partners confirmed the email, however also qualified it by saying they were reaching out to clients floating the idea of a SpaceX IPO in an attempt to gather more interest from clients in Tesla, Inc. They do not have any evidence of SpaceX preparing for an IPO, and they believed the best way to gain potential early interest is through an investment in Tesla.
The post reveals that Empire Capital Partners, a hedge fund focused on the technology sector, is soliciting interest in a pre-IPO for SpaceX and telling investors that the company has positioned a large stake in Tesla. Reportedly, Tesla investors will have exclusive early access to buy into the “Biggest opportunity of the decade” as soon as the initial public offering is released.
While news of a SpaceX IPO will likely trigger mass interest from institutional investors and Tesla shareholders, it’s important to note that a long process awaits before the Elon Musk-backed space company goes public. SpaceX has not yet filed an S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which can take upwards of 30 days to review, not including any time required for additional amendments made to the filing. The S-1 filing allows the company to submit financial information to the SEC ahead of launching on the public markets. Companies looking to make an initial public offering then proceed with a “roadshow” to convince institutional investors to invest in the company. After that, the company would set the pricing of the IPO and begin the offering.
[Update: Empire Capital Partners, in fact, has no relation with a hedge fund run by Scott Fine and Peter Richards. The compay’s official entity is Empire Capital GP, LLC]
Empire Capital Partners is a global asset manager, based in Connecticut, with $1.13B in assets and was founded in 2005. ECP was founded by Scott A. Fine and Peter J. Richards, and they have participated in several large IPOs including Box, Square, Twitter, Fitbit, and Esty. The company lists SpaceX as a partner on their website and a featured investment that is “live” to their customers.
According to the insider note posted to Sharetrader, ECP has a “10-year history of substantial financial investment” with SpaceX. The note indicates that the hedge fund has been working on the deal for the past 18-months and looking forward to presenting “the biggest pre-IPO opportunity of 2017, maybe even the decade” to its investors.
“Empire Capital Partners is proud to present to you, the fantastic opportunity, in which you are able to take full advantage by getting involved at the ground level. This is sure to be the biggest pre-IPO opportunity of 2017, maybe even the decade. SpaceX is the brainchild of Elon Musk, a highly undervalued company founded in 2002. SpaceX raised $1 billion from Google Inc. and Fidelity Ventures in January 2015. This investment accounts for less than 10% of the company’s estimated value, conservatively between $10 and $12 Billion US Dollars.” reads the email sent to Joshuatree.
SpaceX will list on the NYSE, while Tesla is listed on the NASDAQ. Tesla’s IPO in 2010 went for $17 per share and raised over $226M. Tesla has since raised several billion dollars from the public markets since, including $1.4B in March this year, and continues to see strong demand from investors.
Musk stated in 2015 that a SpaceX IPO would be unlikely in the future, stating, “It will go public once we have regular flights to Mars.” Since then, Musk has seen incredible success in the public markets. Tesla continues to set record highs and currently worth over $51B, becoming one of the largest automakers in the world. Additionally, the overall conditions in the market are at near all-time highs – a prime condition for a SpaceX IPO.
SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk and has since risen to become a multi-billion dollar company with over 5,000 employees. The company has completed dozens of flights over the past couple of years and landed several lucrative contracts with NASA, The Department of Defense, SES, and Iridium. Outside of SpaceX’s current operations, Musk has even larger plans for the company. Musk revealed in June 2016 that SpaceX intends to build a rocket capable of reaching Mars and transporting large masses of people. Called, Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), SpaceX is looking to build a 40-story tall re-useable rocket capable of carrying hundreds of people to the red planet. The company has lofty goals to start testing the ITS rocket after 2020 but requires significant funding for the program. At its inception, Elon Musk injected roughly $100M in capital into the company.
We’ve provided a copy of the original e-mail tipped off to Teslarati and reportedly sent by Empire Capital Partners to its clients.
We are currently positioning the bulk of our clients into ‘Tesla Motors Inc.’ a company trading on the NASDAQ in New York under the trading symbol ‘TSLA.’ The company has an ancillary company preparing for a formal listing in the New York Stock Exchange, as an IPO (Initial Public Offering) called SPACE X. The reason we are putting all our preferred clients into TESLA; is what we know. Not only is TESLA going to show solid gains in the short term – yielding clients anywhere upwards of 20%. We have insight that the SPACE X IPO will be the most lucrative, and sought after IPO of 2017! Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal, and CEO of Tesla, Solar City and Space X has announced – the existing shareholders of Tesla will have exclusive option to buy into the Initial Public Offering of Space X as soon as they are released. Elon Musk likes to take care of his own. We have bought an institutional position in TESLA and are using the shares that we have acquired to bring new clients on board at a discount, in order to show them how Empire Capital Partners can deliver in 2017. Our goal is simple. We want to show you the power of information and get you involved in the Space X IPO. The minimum investment into TESLA is $10,000.00 USD and that would allow you to take advantage of the Initial Public Offering of SPACE X once it is announced. You can find additional information about TESLA at http://www.tesla.com
Empire Capital Partners has, with SpaceX, a 10 year history of substantial financial investment. We have spent the last 18 months in analytical research having crossed all the T’s and dotted all the I’s.
Empire Capital Partners is proud to present to you, the fantastic opportunity, in which you are able to take full advantage by getting involved at the ground level. This is sure to be the biggest pre-IPO opportunity of 2017, maybe even the decade. SpaceX is the brainchild of Elon Musk, a highly undervalued company founded in 2002. SpaceX raised $1 billion from Google Inc. and Fidelity Ventures in January 2015. This investment accounts for less than 10% of the company’s estimated value, conservatively between $10 and $12 Billion US Dollars.
Although SpaceX is known by the general public for its work on reusable rockets, the well-known giant Google has other interests Google’s interest peaked with Musk’s recent announcement when he outlined a plan for a global communications system that would use satellites to beam low-cost internet around the world.
Elon exclaimed, “Larger than anything that has been talked about to date,” He added, “at least five years and $15 billion to build and will implement 700 tiny satellites 750 miles above the Earth.” Google has long had similar ambitions itself by spreading internet around the world, including to remote regions. Google would then boost the number of people who have access to its services and of course all the extra revenue that comes with it! SpaceX points out that two thirds of the world have no access at all. It’s why we’re so focused on new technologies. New technologies that have the potential to bring hundreds of millions more people online in the coming years.”
Facebook and Google have already been working with balloons and drones trying to figure out how to spread Internet access. The internet space race is on! With Google heavily investing such large amounts into SpaceX, TALK ABOUT A WINNING COMBINATION! GOOGLE AND ELON MUSK! Now might be the time to sell those Facebook shares and back SpaceX by investing into the only clear winner of that race.
Even combining Google and SpaceX’s achievements and technologies, there are still a lot of big questions and challenges around how Musk’s satellite vision will work. Another big challenge would be installing ground-based antennas and computer terminals to receive the satellite signals. One thing that you can count on, the sure fire bet!
IF ELON MUSK PUTS HIS MIND AND MONEY INTO IT. IT WILL HAPPEN!
Fidelity invested in SpaceX in January 2015, putting up $16.75 million to join Google in a $1Billion investment. Fidelity now values its SpaceX stake at $19.25 million, a 15% increase. SpaceX said the two new additional investors owned just under 10% of the company. Google put the vast majority of cash into SpaceX’s billion-dollar financing round — $900 million for a 7.5% stake in the company. That implies SpaceX’s new valuation is $12 billion and puts the company ahead of companies like Dropbox, Snapchat and Airbnb, but behind Xiaomi, Uber and Palantir.
As a private company, SpaceX’s financials are fairly opaque, it has booked as much as $7 billion in future revenue from 60 commercial launch bookings over the next several years, and last year won a $2.6 billion contract to build the Dragon 2 and transport astronauts to the International Space Station. It also is bidding for a second contract to ferry cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), which is expected to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
SpaceX now ranks fourth on The Wall Street Journal’s list of billion-dollar private companies, securing an easy $12 Billion valuation.
SpaceX’s value exceeds that of rivals. United Launch Alliance, a key SpaceX competitor in the US, is reportedly the subject of a $2 billion takeover bid by the space firm Aerojet. But ULA has older technology and less commercial business than SpaceX. Arianespace, the European private launch contractor, was valued between $340 and $640 million as France prepared to sell its stake in the firm this summer, but it does not manufacture its own rockets.
Investor's Corner
Legendary investor Ron Baron says Tesla and SpaceX stock buys will continue
In a wide-ranging appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box on May 12, legendary investor Ron Baron, founder, CEO, and portfolio manager of Baron Capital, reaffirmed his deep conviction in Elon Musk’s two flagship companies.
Legendary investor Ron Baron says he will continue buying stock of both Tesla and SpaceX, as he continues his support behind CEO Elon Musk, who he says is a special person and “brilliant.”
In a wide-ranging appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box on May 12, legendary investor Ron Baron, founder, CEO, and portfolio manager of Baron Capital, reaffirmed his deep conviction in Elon Musk’s two flagship companies.
With assets under management approaching $55–56 billion, Baron detailed his firm’s substantial holdings, outlined plans for the anticipated SpaceX IPO, and painted an exceptionally optimistic picture for both Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and SpaceX, framing them as generational opportunities that will reshape industries and deliver extraordinary long-term returns.
Baron Capital’s position in SpaceX has grown dramatically since the firm began investing around 2017. What started as roughly $1.7 billion has ballooned to more than $15 billion, making it the firm’s largest holding.
Tesla ranks second, valued at approximately $5 billion in the portfolio. Together with stakes in xAI and related Musk-led ventures, these investments account for roughly one-third of Baron Capital’s $60 billion in lifetime profits since 1992. Baron emphasized that the growth stems from Musk’s singular ability to execute ambitious visions—from reusable rockets to global satellite internet and beyond.
The centerpiece of the discussion was SpaceX’s expected initial public offering, targeted for mid-2026 following a confidential S-1 filing. Baron announced plans to purchase an additional $1 billion in shares at the IPO.
Ron Baron said today that he plans on buying an additional $1 billion of SpaceX stock during the upcoming IPO:
“At the IPO price, I’ve got an order for $1 billion. I want to buy more stock at the IPO. I don’t know if we’re going to get filled, but we’re going to try. I believe… pic.twitter.com/KOv1HvYcZ0
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 12, 2026
He described the company’s trajectory in sweeping terms: “This is going to become the largest company on the planet.”
He highlighted Starlink’s expansion of high-speed internet to every corner of the globe, the revolutionary economics of reusable rockets, and Starship’s potential to enable massive space-based data centers and interplanetary infrastructure.
Baron sees SpaceX not merely as a rocket company but as a platform poised for exponential scaling once it goes public, with post-IPO appreciation potentially reaching 10- to 20- or even 30-times current levels over the next decade or more.
On Tesla, Baron struck an equally enthusiastic note, declaring that “now is Tesla’s moment.” He projected the stock could reach $2,000 to $2,500 per share within 10 years—implying a market capitalization near $8.3 trillion and roughly 5–6 times upside from recent levels. While Tesla remains a major holding, Baron’s optimism centers on its evolution beyond electric vehicles into an AI, robotics, autonomous-driving, and energy platform.
He pointed to robotaxis, Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, Optimus humanoid robots, energy storage, and the vast real-world data advantage from Tesla’s global fleet as catalysts that will fundamentally alter the company’s revenue model and valuation multiples. Baron views these developments as transformative, shifting Tesla from a traditional automaker to a high-margin technology and infrastructure powerhouse.
Throughout the interview, Baron’s admiration for Musk was unmistakable. He has likened the entrepreneur to a modern Leonardo da Vinci for his artistic, multidisciplinary approach to solving humanity’s biggest challenges.
Baron’s personal commitment mirrors this confidence: he has repeatedly stated he does not expect to sell a single share of his own Tesla or SpaceX holdings in his lifetime, positioning himself as the “last one out” after his clients. This stance underscores a philosophy of patient, long-term ownership rather than short-term trading.
Baron’s comments arrive at a time of heightened anticipation around SpaceX’s public debut, which could rank among the largest IPOs in history and potentially value the company at $1.5–2 trillion or more at listing.
For investors, his message is clear: the Musk ecosystem—spanning electric vehicles, autonomy, robotics, satellite communications, and space exploration—represents one of the most compelling secular growth stories of the era. While short-term volatility in tech and EV stocks may persist, Baron sees these as buying opportunities for those who share his multi-decade horizon.
In summarizing his outlook, Baron reinforced that the combination of technological breakthroughs, massive addressable markets, and Musk’s leadership creates asymmetric upside that few other investments can match.
For Baron Capital’s clients and long-term Tesla and SpaceX shareholders alike, the investor’s latest CNBC remarks serve as both validation and a call to remain patient through the inevitable ups and downs. As Baron sees it, the best days for both companies—and the returns they can deliver—are still ahead.
Elon Musk
Trump’s invite for Elon just reshuffled Tesla’s big Signature Delivery Event
Tesla rescheduled its final Model S farewell to May 20 after Musk joined Trump in China.
Tesla has rescheduled its Model S and Model X Signature Edition delivery event to Wednesday, May 20, 2026, after abruptly calling off the original May 12 celebration. The event will take place at Tesla’s factory at 45500 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont, California, the same location where the Model S first rolled off the line in 2012. Invitees received a follow-up email asking them to reconfirm attendance and download a new QR code ticket, with Tesla noting that all travel and accommodation expenses remain the buyer’s responsibility.
The reason behind the original cancellation came into focus the same day it was announced. President Trump invited Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and executives from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Citigroup, and Meta to join his trip to China this week for a summit with President Xi Jinping. The agenda covers trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, following weeks of escalating friction between Washington and Beijing over AI technology, sanctions, and rare earth exports. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I am very much looking forward to my trip to China, an amazing Country, with a Leader, President Xi, respected by all.”
Tesla launches 200mph Model S “Gold” Signature in invite-only purchase
The vehicles at the center of all this are the last Model S and Model X units Tesla will ever build. Priced at $159,420 each, the 250 Model S and 100 Model X Signature Edition units come finished in Garnet Red with a one-year no-resale agreement, giving Tesla right of first refusal if the owner decides to sell. As Teslarati reported, the Model S defined Tesla’s early identity as a serious luxury automaker, and the Fremont factory line that built it is now being converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots.
Musk’s inclusion in the China delegation drew attention given his very public relationship with Trump, and the invitation signals the two have moved past and past grievances. Trump originally brought Musk on to lead the Department of Government Efficiency following his inauguration, and despite a sharp public dispute in mid-2025, the two have appeared together repeatedly in recent months. A seat on the China trip, the most diplomatically consequential visit of Trump’s current term, puts Musk back at the table on U.S. economic policy at a moment when Tesla’s China revenue remains one of the company’s most important financial pillars.
Investor's Corner
Tesla Optimus is already benefiting investors, top Wall Street firm says
Piper Sandler has updated its detailed valuation model for Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), concluding that at recent share prices around $400–$420, investors are essentially acquiring the company’s ambitious Optimus humanoid robot project at no extra cost.
Tesla Optimus is already benefiting investors from a fiscal standpoint, at least that is what Alexander Potter at Piper Sandler, a top Wall Street firm covering the company, says.
Piper Sandler has updated its detailed valuation model for Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), concluding that at recent share prices around $400–$420, investors are essentially acquiring the company’s ambitious Optimus humanoid robot project at no extra cost.
Analyst Alexander Potter, in the firm’s latest “Definitive Guide to Investing in Tesla,” built a comprehensive framework covering 17 separate product lines.
This granular approach values Tesla’s core businesses—including electric vehicles, energy storage, Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, in-house insurance, Supercharging network, and a standalone robotaxi operation—at approximately $400 per share, without assigning any value to Optimus or related inference-as-a-service opportunities.
“At $400/share, we think investors can buy Optimus for ‘free,’” Potter stated in the note. Piper Sandler maintained its Overweight rating on Tesla shares and a $500 price target, which implicitly attributes roughly $100 per share to the robot-related businesses— a figure the analyst views as potentially conservative.
The updated model incorporates elements often overlooked by other sell-side analysts, such as detailed forecasts for Tesla’s insurance operations, Supercharger revenue, and a distinct valuation for the robotaxi business separate from FSD software licensing. It also accounts for Tesla’s 2025 CEO compensation plan for the first time.
Potter acknowledged that his estimates for 2026 and 2027 fall below Wall Street consensus, citing factors like declining deliveries from certain discontinued models and reduced regulatory credit income.
However, he expressed limited concern, noting that traditional vehicle delivery metrics are expected to matter less over time as FSD subscriber growth and robotaxi deployment metrics gain prominence. On Optimus specifically, Potter suggested the humanoid robot program, combined with inference services, “arguably will be worth more than Tesla’s other businesses combined,” though the firm has not yet produced formal long-term forecasts for these segments.
Tesla shares have traded near the $400 range in recent sessions, reflecting ongoing investor focus on the company’s autonomous driving progress and expansion into robotics and AI. The Optimus project remains in early development stages, with Tesla aiming to deploy the robots initially for internal factory tasks before broader commercial applications.
This Piper Sandler analysis highlights the growing emphasis among some investors and analysts on Tesla’s long-term technology platform potential beyond its current automotive and energy businesses.
As with any forward-looking valuation, outcomes will depend on execution timelines, technological breakthroughs, regulatory approvals for autonomous systems, and market adoption of humanoid robotics—areas that carry significant uncertainty and execution risk.
The note underscores a common theme in Tesla coverage: differing views on how to quantify emerging high-growth opportunities like robotics within the company’s overall enterprise value. Investors are advised to consider their own risk tolerance and conduct thorough due diligence regarding these speculative elements.
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