SpaceX files for IPO with $760 billion Elon Musk pay package tied to Mars colony

SpaceX has filed to go public with a plan that could turn Elon Musk’s stake into one of the largest pay packages ever contemplated, but the deal also raises fresh questions about valuation, governance and whether investors are being asked to buy into a vision that depends on a lot more than rockets. According to Bloomberg and TechCrunch, the company’s filing lays out a compensation structure for Musk that could be worth about $760 billion at the highest levels, while also setting out ambitious operational milestones tied to SpaceX’s growth, including a future Mars colony.

The filing, which TechCrunch said spans 36 pages of risk factors, describes a company aiming far beyond its core launch business. SpaceX’s disclosures reportedly include a $28 trillion total addressable market, reflecting an exceptionally broad view of the industries it hopes to reach through space-based communications, infrastructure and computing. Bloomberg reported that Musk’s awards are structured in tranches and depend on both market capitalization targets and operational achievements. In one of the most eye-catching conditions, no part of the package vests unless SpaceX establishes a colony on Mars.

That Mars requirement has become the most striking symbol of how unusual the proposed deal is. Bloomberg’s reporting says Musk could receive more than 1.3 billion shares if SpaceX meets certain milestones, with one award tied to a market value of $7.5 trillion and another linked to additional performance goals. The company’s plan, according to the reports, includes a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants, underscoring how tightly Musk’s compensation is now tied to his most ambitious long-term vision for the company.

The structure has already prompted concern from governance observers and market executives. In Bloomberg interviews, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine raised governance worries about the IPO, while NYSE President Lynn Martin questioned some of the rules used to attract SpaceX to Nasdaq, calling market integrity “not a competitive dynamic.” Their comments reflect broader unease about how a company as influential and closely controlled as SpaceX should be brought to public markets, especially if its founder retains enormous voting power.

That control is central to the debate. Bloomberg has reported that Musk holds majority voting rights at SpaceX, allowing him to elect all board members, and that the company plans to rely on exemptions from rules that would normally require independent oversight of compensation and nominations. Critics say that raises the stakes for investors and regulators, because the same person who drives the company’s strategy also has outsized influence over the board that approves his compensation. Supporters, by contrast, argue that the arrangement reflects the scale of Musk’s role in shaping the company’s trajectory.

The timing of the filing also comes as SpaceX continues to push on technical and operational fronts, even after a Starship launch was recently scrubbed, according to Bloomberg Tech. That broader context matters because the IPO would not just value SpaceX’s current business; it would ask public investors to back a company whose future depends on repeated launch successes, regulatory approvals and technologies that are still being developed. For now, the filing offers a vivid snapshot of a company trying to turn a private ambition into a public-market story — and of how far the numbers have to stretch to match the dream.