For the first time in a generation, the IPO market is the front page of finance. As of writing in mid-2026, one listing has already rewritten the record books and two of the most valuable private companies in history have filed to follow it. This is the rare interview topic where the process, the valuation debate and the market backdrop all live in one story, so it rewards preparation disproportionately. The facts below were the state of play at writing; check the current state the week you interview, because this story moves.
The facts, briefly
SpaceX listed on Nasdaq in June 2026 in the largest IPO in history: US$135 per share, roughly 557 million shares, about US$75bn raised at a valuation near US$1.75tn. The offering broke convention by earmarking roughly 30% of shares for retail investors against a typical 5-10%. The debut was strong, up around 19% on day one, before the stock traded back down as the broader technology market softened. Behind it came the AI laboratories: Anthropic raised privately at a US$965bn valuation in late May then filed confidentially at the start of June, while OpenAI, with annualised revenue reported above US$20bn against roughly US$6bn in 2024, filed about a week later amid reports of a valuation target near US$1tn. By late June, reporting suggested OpenAI was leaning toward waiting until 2027 after the market cooled, which is itself a lesson we will come to.
The triangle: growth against multiple against profitability
None of these companies can be discussed with an earnings multiple, because the earnings are negative by design: all three spend ahead of revenue on rockets, satellites, data centres and model training. So the conversation moves to revenue multiples and the numbers are the point. SpaceX's Starlink alone generated US$11.4bn in 2025, up roughly 50% year on year and about 61% of group revenue, which puts total revenue in the high teens of billions against a US$1.75tn price: a multiple measured in dozens of times sales. OpenAI's reported run rate above US$20bn sits against a US$1tn ambition with losses reported around US$14bn for 2026 and profitability guided years out. The scoring sentence in an interview is honest about what such prices are: claims about terminal economics, not current ones. A candidate who can say 'the market is underwriting where growth and margins land in the 2030s, so the debate is the durability of the growth rate and the eventual margin structure, not this year's multiple' has framed the entire argument. Then hold both sides, exactly as the market questions article trains: the bull case is unprecedented growth with structural demand; the sceptic's case is that a revenue multiple in the dozens leaves no room for the growth rate to disappoint and history is unkind to the assumption that it never does.
The window: why sequencing is strategy
The second teaching layer is the IPO window, the market's periodic willingness to absorb large new issuance at full prices. Windows are opened by successful lead ships and closed by failed ones, which is why every issuer and every ECM desk watched the SpaceX book so closely. Its success pulled the filings in behind it within days; its subsequent cooling, together with a softer tape, was reportedly enough to make the next giant consider waiting a year. There is a genuine first-mover question in there worth arguing either way: going first captures the window but prices without a comparable, while going second gets a live benchmark and inherits whatever the first listing did to sentiment. That sequencing logic, windows, lead ships, the read-across between issuers, is precisely the market-read craft the ECM and DCM article describes as the capital markets desk's daily job.
Process, live
The mechanics are a live demonstration of the IPO sequence you should already carry: confidential filing, public prospectus, roadshow, pricing, aftermarket. SpaceX ran the public stages in about ten weeks, priced at US$135 and popped 19%, then faded, which is the pricing tension in one chart: the issuer wants proceeds, the book wants a working aftermarket and a first day up double digits followed by a slide means the debate about who won the pricing will run for years. Add the retail allocation experiment, three to six times the usual share and you have a genuinely novel structure to discuss. One more angle interviewers enjoy: when reports of a delay emerged, shares of the banks positioned on the mandate moved, a neat reminder that mega listings are league-table events and fee events for the advisers, not just for the issuers.
The 90-second version
The wave, discussed · roughly 90 seconds
'The mega IPO wave: SpaceX listed in June 2026 in the largest IPO ever, about US$75bn raised at roughly US$1.75tn, with an unusual 30% retail allocation. It popped around 19% on day one then traded off as tech softened. Behind it, Anthropic filed confidentially after a private round at US$965bn and OpenAI filed about a week later targeting a valuation near US$1tn, though by late June it was reportedly weighing a delay to 2027. For me the interesting question is valuation method: all three are loss-making by design, so the market is pricing terminal economics through revenue multiples measured in dozens of times sales. I would defend that as rational only if you believe the growth is structural and I would flag the window dynamic: the first listing opened the door and its cooling is already reshaping the timetable of the next one.'
Practically, this theme earns its place in your deal sheet: it connects to the AI infrastructure story this site covers, it feeds the rate conversation because windows live and die on the macro backdrop and it gives you a live case for every stage of the ECM process. Refresh the current state before each interview, one search is enough, then rehearse the ninety seconds aloud. Having the sceptic's side run at you live, by someone who sat through these debates on the hiring side, is the IBD Recruiting Review.
FAQ
Why are SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic going public now?
Capital intensity above all: rockets, satellites and model training consume tens of billions, while a receptive market window and investor pressure for liquidity make public capital the logical next source.
How do you value a company with no profits?
Through revenue multiples adjusted for growth, treated honestly: prices like these are claims about terminal margins and growth durability rather than about current earnings.
What is an IPO window?
A period when the market absorbs large new issuance at full prices. Successful lead listings open it, failed or fading ones close it, which is why sequencing behind a lead ship is a strategic decision.
Former Executive Director in TMT Investment Banking at Nomura and M&A banker at BNP Paribas. Top-rated mentor with 300+ sessions. About
