SPACEX will sell insider shares at US$112 apiece in a tender offer, a higher-than-expected price that boosts the value of Elon Musk’s space and satellite company closer to US$210 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The company was last valued at US$180 billion in a transaction in December, Bloomberg News reported.
The world’s second-most valuable startup decided to price its current tender offer – a transaction that enables employees and insiders such as investors to sell shares – at higher than the US$200 billion valuation that was discussed last month, due to significant investor demand, the sources said.
They declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak publicly.
The new valuation is a record for an American private company but is still lower than the US$268 billion valuation of ByteDance, the parent of social video phenom TikTok.
Already, SpaceX is on par with some of the world’s largest, publicly traded companies by market capitalisation.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Terms are not finalised and the size of the tender offer could change depending on interest from both insider sellers and buyers.
Representatives for SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. BLOOMBERG