Elon Musk’s SpaceX debuted on the public market on Friday, raising $75 billion in what was the largest IPO in history.
SpaceX’s IPO more than doubled the previous IPO record and provides the company with capital to help finance what Musk explained on a pre-IPO livestream with JPMorgan Chase will be a “significant growth phase” as it ramps up the deployment of its Starlink communications satellites and looks to build artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in space.
The IPO is the first of several highly anticipated IPOs that are expected to occur later this year, with a pair of companies at the forefront of the AI boom – ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Anthropic – taking steps toward a debut.
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It remains to be seen whether those looming IPOs will break the new record set by SpaceX, but here’s a look at the four other IPOs that round out the list of the five largest in history:
Saudi Aramco
Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company went public in December 2019, with the deal initially raising $25.6 billion in capital after listing on the Saudi stock exchange.
That amount grew to about $29.4 billion after Saudi Aramco and its underwriters exercised an over-allotment option – also known as a greenshoe option – that allowed Aramco to issue more shares due to the high level of demand from investors.
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Alibaba
The China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba went public in September 2014 with a $21.8 billion capital raise, which ranked as the largest at the time.
As with the Saudi Aramco IPO, intense demand prompted Alibaba’s underwriters to use an option to issue more shares that boosted the total amount raised to $25 billion. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
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SoftBank
Japan-based communications provider SoftBank debuted in December 2018 with a $21.3 billion IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The company’s parent, SoftBank Group, is a major tech investor around the world and has made notable investments in U.S. AI companies and chipmakers. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said in December 2024 that his firm would invest $100 billion in the U.S. with the goal of creating 100,000 new jobs.
Agricultural Bank of China
The 2010 IPO of the Agricultural Bank of China was the world’s largest at the time, totaling an initial $20.8 billion – though that figure later grew to $22.1 billion when it issued more shares on exchanges in Hong Kong and Shanghai through a dual-listing.
The firm is one of the largest financial institutions in China in terms of assets and customers, serving as the primary bank for Chinese agricultural businesses.
