Such rule changes would have taken into account SpaceX’s plan to offer only about 3 percent of its IPO shares to public investors, and the fact that SpaceX is currently unprofitable with a growing debt load that has reached $29 billion due to its Overspending on AI infrastructure.
But in its final decision, S&P Dow Jones Indices stated that “no changes will be made to the eligibility criteria, including financial viability examinations, maturation period or minimum IWF.” Even after the standard one-year wait, SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI may struggle to deliver the consistent profitability needed to qualify for the S&P 500.
Money rules and exceptions.
The rapid entry into the S&P 500 would have triggered $14 billion in passive fund purchases for SpaceX, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Bloomberg’s investment research arm also estimated that OpenAI could have earned more than $8 billion, and Anthropic could have earned $4.6 billion thanks to similar passive purchases triggered by their entries into the S&P 500.
That’s because $7.5 trillion in passively managed funds (popular with both individual and institutional investors) track the S&P 500 by buying shares of companies based on their proportional representation in the S&P 500 index. For example, brokerage giants Vanguard and Fidelity offer passive mutual funds that track the makeup of the S&P 500.
However, the S&P Dow Jones Indices did “make a concession” by changing the investment weighting factor rules for “lower profile benchmarks” such as the S&P Total Market Index and the Dow Jones US Total Stock Market Index. according to quartz. That could allow an IPO to enter those indexes more quickly.
In contrast, the Nasdaq stock market changed their rules to allow SpaceX to enter the Nasdaq-100 index within 15 business days, instead of the usual three months. Similarly, index provider FTSE Russell decided to grant SpaceX and other successor companies expedited entry to the Russell Top 500 Index after the close of the fifth trading day following an IPO.
The denial of accelerated entry into the S&P 500 for SpaceX comes just days after Morningstar analysts described SpaceX as “significantly overrated” in the period prior to its IPO. The investment research firm valued SpaceX at $780 billion (less than half of SpaceX’s $1.75 trillion IPO target), based primarily on the company’s strengths. Starlink satellite service and rocket launch business.
This story was updated on June 6, 2026 to more clearly describe the proposed rule changes that would have applied to all MegaCap companies.
