In an X post on Friday.Elon Musk warned future shareholders that while the returns could become enormous over time, those investing in SpaceX should not “expect the road to be completely smooth” and that it should be allowed to focus on its mission of making human life “multiplanetary.”
I’m thinking you should heed this warning. After all, if you’re considering buying SpaceX stock, what do you think will happen at SpaceX after the long-awaited IPO? next month? You can’t imagine SpaceX becoming a boring pillar of economic stability like AT&T, right?
Speaking to his employees in February, Musk described his dream for the future of SpaceX like one filled with space catapults, a Dyson sphere around the sun, and artificial intelligence that feeds on secret knowledge previously known only to long-dead aliens.
In other words, if you imagine a good old-fashioned American capitalist company with healthy profits, dividends, and market-friendly competition, like something out of a 1940s propaganda movie, you are investing in the wrong company.
To wit: SpaceX’s corporate governance regime will be established in such a way that the CEO and president can’t be fired, according to a report last month from Reuters. SpaceX will have different share classes with different power levels. Class A for pension funds and Robinhood users (plebs, in other words) and Class B for VIPs. The class B shares will have ten times the voting power of the class A shares, and Musk will control the class B shares.
The IPO filing, part of which is taken from the Reuters article, explains this in detail. Musk “can only be removed from our board of directors or these positions by a vote of Class B holders.” If Musk “retains a significant portion of his holdings of Class B common stock for an extended period of time, he could continue to control the election and removal of a majority of our board of directors.”
Basically, Musk stays in both positions for as long as he wants and can easily veto any attempt to fire him. Non-voting common stock is not uncommon these days, but a powerless board of directors is. As a Harvard corporate governance expert named Lucian Bebchuk explained to Reuters: “Typically, the removal of the CEO is a decision left to the board of directors, with controllers relying on their power to replace the board.”
So if you own SpaceX stock, you’re along for the ride.
On Friday, in response to a Financial Times article about SpaceX’s draconian governance plan, Musk explained himself. Something like that:
Yes, I need to make sure SpaceX stays focused on making life multiplanetary and extending consciousness to the stars, not pandering to someone’s shitty quarterly profit bonus!
Obviously, if SpaceX achieves this absurdly difficult goal, it will be worth a lot of orders for…
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 15, 2026
“I need to make sure SpaceX stays focused on making life multiplanetary and extending consciousness to the stars,” he wrote.
He often does this. In response to criticism, or just as often in response to fans protecting him from criticism, he would say some variation of If people are mean to me, humanity will never be multiplanetary..
For example, when CleanTechnica jumped to his defense after Bernie Sanders criticized him over income inequality in 2021, responded“I am accumulating resources to help make life multiplanetary and extend the light of consciousness to the stars.” That same year, in response to criticism from European finance ministers about its potential monopoly on satellite launches, aware“SpaceX is developing the rockets needed to make life multiplanetary: full, rapid, large-scale reuse.” Also in 2021, when the FAA expressed concern that SpaceX had overstepped its authorization from the federal government, he wrote about how much he hated the FAA’s space division, saying, “Their rules are for a handful of expendable launches per year from a few government facilities. Under those rules, humanity will never reach Mars.”
Some predict that soon after the IPO, the resulting increase in SpaceX’s valuation will cause Musk’s net worth to increase. cross the trillion dollar threshold. This is not a trivial side effect. Elon Musk is more or less indicating that he is the protagonist of humanity’s future and that everyone else is NPC. Do you believe that? Then, by all means, buy the stock (this is not financial advice).
