Behind the scenes of what could become one of the most dramatic public market debuts in history, Elon Musk’s space powerhouse is quietly assembling its legal command team.
SpaceX has turned to Gibson Dunn to guide the company through the legal maze of a potential initial public offering, according to people familiar with the discussions. On the other side of the deal table, the banks expected to underwrite the offering have selected Davis Polk & Wardwell as their legal adviser.
Both appointments mark a critical early step in the IPO playbook, where companies line up legal counsel before formally announcing a public listing.
Sources say the confidential filing that signals the start of the IPO process could arrive as early as this month. If the offering materializes at the hoped-for valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion, the space and satellite company would instantly vault into the ranks of the world’s most valuable corporations—while opening the door for public investors to finally buy into Musk’s tightly held venture.
The choice of Gibson Dunn is not entirely new territory for the company. The firm previously assisted SpaceX in its deal involving Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI, a transaction that stitched together several pieces of the billionaire’s technology empire.
That earlier move reshaped the landscape of Musk’s businesses. By bringing together SpaceX’s launch operations, the Starlink satellite network, the X social platform, and the Grok AI chatbot under one corporate umbrella, the combined entity was valued at about $1.25 trillion at the time of the deal.
A successful IPO could also deliver a windfall for Wall Street. Major banks are already circling the transaction. Financial heavyweights including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley have reportedly been interviewed for leading roles in the offering.
For Davis Polk, the assignment fits neatly into a long résumé of blockbuster public offerings. The New York firm has previously worked on high-profile IPOs such as those of Uber and Arm Holdings and frequently ranks at the top of capital markets league tables.
The broader IPO calendar is also heating up. The technology sector is expected to dominate upcoming listings, with major offerings anticipated from artificial intelligence companies including Anthropic and OpenAI.
But even among that crowded field, a SpaceX debut would stand apart. A public listing at the projected valuation would not only reshape the IPO market—it could redefine it.
