SpaceX Stock: How You Can Get A Piece Of SpaceX

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Traveling from one planet to another seems almost possible thanks to SpaceX. But while others get excited about the successes of SpaceX missions, as an investor, you know that you can expect big profits when you get to own a piece of the company as early as this.

The problem is, Elon Musk (the founder of SpaceX) has been very clear about not making SpaceX available to the stock market. It is currently only open to private investors. But don’t give up hope just yet. There may be one way you can invest even before or if ever the company decides to make an IPO.

Photo by Nicolas Lobos on Unsplash

What Is SpaceX?

SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies, Corp), is a company based in California founded in 2002. It manufactures rockets and spacecraft, while also aiming to revolutionize space technology.

On a bigger scale, the goal is to lower the cost of planet transportation for humans to live interplanetarily. Meaning, we can go from planet to planet however we like. Aside from space ventures, if all goes exactly as Elon Musk has planned, SpaceX will take humans to Mars by 2026 and build a civilization on the red planet by 2050.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Initially, Musk planned to build the Mars Oasis. A greenhouse on Mars, making it the farthest a life form has traveled and flourished. However as he went on, he realized the expense of Mars travel. He knew that it would require a fundamental breakthrough in rocket technology to make his oasis possible.

What started as a goal to reinvigorate interest in funding NASA and space exploration through the Mars Oasis went on to develop the Mars Mission. In 2002, he traveled to Russia to buy a refurbished intercontinental ballistic missile that could send the payloads into space.

When Is The Next SpaceX Launch?

In September 2008, Falcon 1 was the first-ever privately developed liquid-fuel launched vehicle to orbit the earth. Since then, SpaceX continued to push technological boundaries, achieving milestones as it goes along.

The latest SpaceX launch, which is also the 13th mission of this year, is the Falcon 9 JCSAT 18/Kacific 1 Communications Satellite. It successfully launched into orbit, only recently at 7:10 EST on December 16, 2019 in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The communication satellite is shared between the startup Kacific Broadband satellite and the Japanese Operator SKY Perfect JSAT.

SpaceX Stock IPO

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For stock market newbies, the term IPO refers to an initial public offering. This is where a company sells a portion of the firm, or offers its shares to the public, allowing people to invest in the company. If you’d like to know more about stocks, we’ve written just the perfect article on the best stocks to buy and invest in.

SpaceX is not open for the public to invest in. It is still operating as a private company and Musk doesn’t have plans to make it public anytime soon. This is because by operating as a private company, it is free to operate the business on its own without needing to become transparent to its shareholders. 

Operating in private doesn’t make it invisible to the eyes of investors though. For many, it even appears as a unicorn stock. Unicorn companies are private companies with a valuation of over 1 billion dollars. SpaceX is worth $33.3 billion.

How To Buy SpaceX Stock

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

With so much interest around SpaceX and the success of any business venture from the founder of PayPal and Tesla, it’s only natural that people would want to invest in SpaceX Stock.

But no matter how good you are at finding unicorn companies or profitable stock prices, you won’t find any SpaceX stock symbol as it is not available in the list of stocks available to trade. 

SpaceX Funding Structure

The funding that SpaceX receives will finance the satellite business which will develop a global communication system. This will let future inhabitants of Mars communicate to everyone on earth through the Web. But there’s one question many get to ask. That is, where does the company get its funding?

Only chosen investors own equity to SpaceX. We know three venture capital firms that invested in SpaceX stock. These are Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), and Fidelity.

The Founders Fund invested $29 million in 2008. While DFJ invested $20 million. While it’s possible to invest in venture capital firms, there’s another easier way. Google, together with Fidelity, contributed a combined $1billion to SpaceX in 2015, owning 10 percent of the company. This paves the way to anyone with an interest in owning a piece of SpaceX.

Alphabet Stock (NASDAQ: GOOG)

Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash

The only way to invest in SpaceX stock is through Alphabet stocks. There you have it!

In theory, owning a piece of Alphabet will also mean owning a piece of SpaceX stock. With the net income of $12.7 billion, and valued at $735.8 billion, Alphabet may even be the smarter investment than SpaceX.

Will Elon Musk’s SpaceX Stock Go Public?

To date, SpaceX has over 6000 employees and owns 3 different vehicles. But until the company realizes its mission will it only go public for investors. Right now, it is more concerned with successful launches rather than pooling more money.

It is also possible that SpaceX, to further realize its goals for Mars Mission, may need to file for an IPO to raise enough capital. Even if it’s a long way off, an IPO from SpaceX is highly possible. But until that happens, investors interested in venturing in the space business may need to settle for investing in Alphabet for now.