SpaceX just hit a milestone no company wants: its stock briefly traded below the price at which it went public.
According to Samantha Subin of CNBC, SpaceX shares fell for a fourth-straight session on Wednesday, dipping below their $135 initial public offering price for the first time before recovering slightly to close at $135.27.
The BBC likewise reported that SpaceX's share price dropped below its stock market debut level. The move is symbolically significant because a company's IPO price is the benchmark early investors paid — falling beneath it means anyone who bought at the offering is now, at least on paper, underwater.
TechCrunch framed the slide as a reality check. The publication noted that the stock has steadily fallen from its "euphoric" post-IPO high, suggesting that markets "may be sobering up" to the promises CEO Elon Musk made both before and after SpaceX went public. TechCrunch also pointed out that the drop comes ahead of a planned Starship launch.
In other words, the shares are sliding at a moment when SpaceX is preparing to demonstrate the very hardware that underpins much of the optimism baked into its valuation. A successful Starship flight could reset sentiment; a setback could deepen the doubts.
Why it matters: SpaceX is one of the most closely watched newly public companies, and a stock falling below its IPO price so soon after listing is an early signal that investors are weighing Musk's ambitious promises against results they can actually see.