SpaceX blocked from early US benchmark index entry as S&P reaffirms existing rules
June 4 (Reuters) - S&P Global said on Thursday it was not changing the requirements for entry into its major indices, dealing a setback to Elon Musk's SpaceX by effectively ruling out a swift entry for the world's biggest-ever IPO into the benchmark S&P 500 index. Musk has rewr
June 4 (Reuters) - S&P Global said on Thursday it was not changing the requirements for entry into its major indices, dealing a setback to Elon Musk's SpaceX by effectively ruling out a swift entry for the world's biggest-ever IPO into the benchmark S&P 500 index.
Musk has rewritten the IPO playbook for SpaceX in many ways from planning to give retail investors a bigger role in allocations to pushing for early index inclusion, and structuring governance to preserve strong founder control.
The company is raising $75 billion and targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation that would place it among the top 10 most valuable U.S.-listed firms, even as only a fraction of its shares are available for trading.
But S&P said "exceptions to the financial viability, seasoning, and IWF (investable weight factor) requirements should not be granted solely based on market capitalization".
To be included in the S&P 500, a company must be profitable under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in its most recent quarter as well as for the sum of its most recent four quarters, according to one of the rules S&P left unchanged.
SpaceX posted a net loss of $4.94 billion in 2025, even as revenue rose 33% to $18.67 billion.
S&P had consulted with investors about shortening the time a megacap company must be publicly listed before joining its indexes, waiving minimum float requirements and removing its profitability requirement.
The S&P 500 is Wall Street's most widely followed benchmark. Passive S&P 500 index funds with trillions of dollars in assets would have been forced to buy up SpaceX shares had rules been changed to admit it to the index.
