SpaceX Might Be Worth $800 Billion—and This Stock Is Soaring

SpaceX is said to be worth $800 billion. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

Key Points

• SpaceX is seeking an $800 billion valuation through a secondary offering, potentially making it the most valuable private company.
• EchoStar’s stock rose 10% after the news, increasing its market value by $2.6 billion, due to its SpaceX stock holdings.
• SpaceX’s valuation would surpass OpenAI’s $500 billion, with Elon Musk’s stake estimated at 40%.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is seeking an $800 billion valuation, making it the most valuable privately held company on Earth—and sending shares of EchoStar soaring.

Citing people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported that the space technology company is initiating a secondary offering that would value it at that amount. The Journal also said there is no certainty that the price will be that high.

SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment, the Journal said.

EchoStar stock traded as high as $88 and closed at $82, up 10%, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 0.2%.

In September, EchoStar announced a deal to sell the company’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses to SpaceX. Spectrum—the frequencies over which wireless calls travel—is a finite resource that every mobile company needs.

SpaceX agreed to pay $8.5 billion in cash and, importantly, up to $8.5 billion in SpaceX stock in the transaction. SpaceX was valued at about $400 billion at the time.

If SpaceX’s valuation doubles, Echostar’s stake is worth $17 billion. The Friday move in EchoStar stock has added roughly $2.6 billion in market value, based on Echostar’s 351 million fully diluted shares outstanding.

The $800 billion figure would launch SpaceX past OpenAI, which is valued at about $500 billion. The number also makes Elon Musk about $160 billion. He owns an estimated 40% of SpaceX stock. The most valuable aerospace and defense company in the U.S. is GE Aerospace, valued at about $300 billion.

Currently, Musk is worth some $470 billion, according to Bloomberg. That doesn’t include some 425 million restricted shares that Tesla shareholders voted to award the CEO. Musk essentially has to make Tesla worth about $8.5 trillion to earn that stock.

Most of SpaceX’s value is tied up in its Starlink broadband product, which has some 9,000 satellites orbiting Earth, delivering data services to more than eight million customers globally. SpaceX, of course, dominates the global space launch business, too, accounting for more than half of all orbital launches.

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