Top 5 Controversies in SpaceX's IPO Prospectus: Musk Controls 85% Voting Rights, AI Losses Triple Rocket Business

The world's most valuable private company, SpaceX, recently submitted a prospectus (S-1) of over 270 pages to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, kicking off the initial public offering process for the space exploration company founded by billionaire Elon Musk. The details disclosed in the document have drawn widespread attention from the market.

Musk's Centralized Structure: Virtually Unfireable

The prospectus reveals that Musk will serve as SpaceX's Chief Executive Officer, Chief Technology Officer, and Chairman of the Board, holding the majority of super-voting Class B shares, which gives him 85% of the shareholder voting rights in the company.

This means Musk has the authority to "elect, remove, or fill" core positions on the board of directors and "control the outcome of matters requiring shareholder approval." Analysts point out that such a structure effectively places Musk in a position that cannot be removed — unless he votes to fire himself.

Mars Colony Written into Compensation Incentives

The term "Mars" appears 63 times in the prospectus, including in the section on executive compensation. The board has granted Musk 1 billion restricted stock units with two unlocking conditions: the first is achieving a company valuation of $7.5 trillion; the second is establishing a "permanent human colony on Mars with at least 1 million residents."

$700 Million Spent on Tesla Products

The document shows that SpaceX purchased nearly $700 million worth of "Megapack" energy storage products from Tesla between 2024 and 2025, and also acquired $131 million worth of Cybertruck electric pickups. It is estimated that the latter is equivalent to approximately 1,183 to 1,813 vehicles, accounting for 6% to 9% of Tesla's Cybertruck annual sales last year.

Financial Losses Increase, AI Division Drag Significant

SpaceX achieved revenues of $18.7 billion last year, with a net loss of about $5 billion. The loss further expanded by $4.3 billion in the first quarter of this year. The main reason for the loss is the merger between SpaceX and Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI — xAI is building a "Colossus" data center in Tennessee at a cost of billions of dollars. The AI division lost $6.4 billion last year, with revenues of $3.2 billion, and capital expenditures of $12.7 billion, more than three times the core rocket business.

Company Acknowledges "Grand Goals are Still Experimental"

In the section titled "Challenges We Face," SpaceX admits that several plans have a high degree of uncertainty. The company proposes to deploy "Orbital AI Computing Satellites" — that is, space data centers — as early as 2028, and has set goals such as establishing a lunar economy, transporting humans to the moon and Mars, and developing "human enhancement systems." The prospectus clearly states that these plans will involve "unproven technology" and even "technology that does not yet exist," and these projects "may not achieve commercial feasibility."

The SpaceX IPO is widely expected to be one of the largest stock offerings in history, and its market performance will also have a significant impact on the listing timing of AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, which are also seeking to go public simultaneously.