SpaceX reveals plans for what could be biggest-ever initial public offering

The world’s richest man has announced plans for one of the biggest sales of stock to the public ever for a space company currently losing billions of dollars a year.

Documents filed on Wednesday show Elon Musk’s SpaceX lost 2.6 billion dollars from operations last year on 18.7 billion dollars in revenue, and the losses kept piling up at the start of this year too.

Still, the initial public offering is expected to rank among the largest ever, possibly surpassing the current title holder, Saudi Aramco, the oil giant that went public seven years ago.

The prospectus did not put a dollar figure on the amount Mr Musk hoped to raise but various reports have put it at 75 billion dollars or so.

The company has said the money will help to finance projects to put men on the Moon and maybe some day Mars in his quest to make humans an intergalactic species in the face of existential threats that could wipe out civilisation.

“We do not want humans to have the same fate as dinosaurs,” the filing stated.

The initial offering could make Mr Musk, a major holder of SpaceX equity, the world’s first trillionaire.

It will also give him big control over the business.

The document says that Mr Musk and certain other shareholders will receive shares in a special class of stock that gives them 10 votes for each share they hold.

Those shareholders will be able, among other things, to elect a majority of the company’s board of directors.

“This will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters and the election of our directors,” SpaceX said in a warning to prospective investors.