SpaceX IPO Set for June 12 at Roughly $1.8 Trillion Valuation

SpaceX will sell 555.6 million shares at $135 each on June 12, raising about $75 billion and valuing the company at roughly $1.77 trillion, according to its S-1 filing. The company employs more than 22,000 people worldwide and maintains operations in Hawthorne, California, where the city reported 7,661 SpaceX workers last June.

Many of those employees continue to live in the Los Angeles area even after the company moved its headquarters to Boca Chica, Texas.

California taxes income above $1 million at 13.3 percent, including a 1 percent mental-health surcharge. Texas has no personal income tax. Princeton University economics professor Owen Zidar said it is plausible that California will collect more tax revenue than Texas because many employees still live and work in Los Angeles.

Associate accounting professor Christina Lewellen said employees holding restricted stock will owe taxes either when the shares vest or when they sell after the IPO. She noted that California residents will face larger tax bills than those in Texas.

Finance external-affairs director H.D. Palmer said the state expects a positive budget impact from the SpaceX offering and similar upcoming IPOs. California Budget and Policy Center executive director Chris Hoene said the main revenue effect will come from personal income and capital-gains taxes paid by newly wealthy employees.