KINGSTON, R.I. – Aug. 04, 2026 – In mythology, unicorns are fictional. In finance, however, unicorns are very real.
Just over a month ago, millions of people witnessed one financial unicorn, and another is quickly approaching. For the first time, privately held company SpaceX was listed on the NASDAQ. Valued at more than $1 trillion, the SpaceX IPO stands alone—at least until Anthropic, valued at just under $1 trillion, reportedly enters the public market later this year.
With nearly $2 trillion in company value preparing to enter public exchanges, Michael Earlywine, an assistant teaching professor in the University of Rhode Island’s College of Business, explains an initial public offering (IPO): “In order to raise money, organizations sell a piece of their company. There’s a lot of reasons you do that, but the important feature is that when you sell a piece of your company, that’s permanent capital.”
Earlywine called the SpaceX IPO, and the anticipated Anthropic IPO, financial unicorns, because of their major IPO valuation and the media attention these companies receive.
SpaceX went public on June 12 with an $85 billion IPO, the largest in history. The $85 billion raised by SpaceX represents less than 10% of the company’s overall valuation. For comparison, Rivian Automotive’s entire market valuation is roughly $25 billion.
While major stock exchanges typically see one IPO each trading day, few generate the media coverage surrounding SpaceX or Anthropic. Their enormous valuations also make them significant outliers among public offerings.
“I think you must look at the scale of this IPO relative to previous IPOs. It’s over 100 times bigger than the closest IPO in June and 40 times larger than the one coming in third place,” said Earlywine.
When SpaceX, or any company, files to go public, Earlywine said, it opens itself up to increased public scrutiny. Although SpaceX sold only about a 5% stake in the company, it must now disclose detailed information about its operations. That includes financial information privately held companies are not required to release.
“Companies must disclose what they pay their executives, how much money the company made, how much debt they took on. A company’s quarterly earnings report provides investors tremendous insight into a company’s operations, but the overwhelming focus on revenue can be a startling change for formerly private companies,” said Earlywine.
SpaceX launched its IPO at $135 a share and opened at $150 per share but has since seen its stock price decline, something Earlywine said is common given the short time it has been listed on the NASDAQ.
“The thing about an IPO is that during the first three months it’ll be volatile. New people are coming in, people who made money off their shares are getting out, and others are more long-term investors,” said Earlywine.
A barometer of an IPO’s success comes after several months. In SpaceX’s case, Earlywine said that timeline could extend to 24 months as there isn’t much in the way of precedent to compare to.
He said the early months are largely about positioning as buyers and sellers determine what they believe the company is worth. Some investors buy additional shares expecting prices to rise, while others sell because they believe the stock has reached its peak.
“We have buyers and sellers. They’re battling. Sellers believe the stock is overvalued. Buyers believe it’s undervalued. We won’t know who’s right in the short term for another three months,” said Earlywine.
IPOs are often the focus of short sellers who hope to take advantage of the hype and profit as expectations normalize. They’re an investor who bets that a stock price will go down. Short sellers get a lot of grief but also take on a great deal of risk as their loss profile is unlimited.
“I always ask students, ‘How much more money do they get if the stock rallies?’ The answer is nothing. They sold it for $85 billion. Even if the stock goes up, that is all they get,” said Earlywine. However, he also notes that companies like SpaceX can use their stock as an expansion tool, buying other companies via all-stock deals—fast and relatively cheap.
Although the IPO may have appeared to happen quickly, Earlywine, who has taken several companies public himself, said the process is anything but fast. The paperwork alone typically takes about a year, with planning beginning well before that. Companies must determine how much of the business to sell, establish an initial share price, meet with potential investors and prepare for the long-term effects of public financial disclosure.
Earlywine posits that Anthropic, which has filed its initial IPO paperwork but not yet announced when shares will become publicly available, has been watching the SpaceX IPO with interest. And he believes the arrival of two financial unicorns could influence companies across the broader stock market.
“SpaceX is this exciting one-off. It’s never happened before—an $85 billion space company IPO. That momentum carries through, especially with what’s happening with Anthropic,” said Earlywine. “They can look at SpaceX, and say, ‘It’s down 11%—we can live with that.’ But the minute SpaceX takes off and gets above its IPO price, Anthropic can say, ‘SpaceX took a little hit initially, but now it’s up 40%, and we can do the same thing.’”
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