Brookfield holds $2b in pre-IPO SpaceX shares

Brookfield said in first-quarter earnings materials released on May 14 that it and affiliated entities hold US$2 billion in pre-IPO SpaceX shares.

About half of the holdings are carried on the parent company’s balance sheet.

SpaceX filed confidentially for an IPO that could happen in June and is targeting a valuation above US$2 trillion.

Brookfield also said it committed US$500 million to humanoid robotics startup Figure and invested in Hark Labs.

The firm has backed Elon Musk’s companies for years, including a US$250 million contribution to his 2022 Twitter buyout through the since-closed Brookfield Growth unit.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

The SpaceX IPO valuation reaches far beyond rockets

SpaceX has been tied to a valuation above US$2 trillion. Elon Musk rejected that figure and confirmed a US$1.75 trillion valuation in a social media post 1.
The figure covers more than launch services. It includes Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet business, plus xAI, Musk’s AI company that owns X and the chatbot Grok 2.
Nasdaq has proposed rule changes for the listing. They would let SpaceX join the Nasdaq-100 after 15 trading days and treat its public float, or shares available for public trading, as five times larger than it is, pushing passive funds to buy the stock 1.

Infrastructure investors broaden ‘hard assets’ for the AI era

Brookfield is a global investment firm rather than a venture shop. Its SpaceX stake suggests large conservative investors are moving further into late-stage private tech companies 3.
That step makes late-stage private tech companies look more like a core investment category for cautious capital. It also narrows the gap between venture capital and infrastructure investing.
The deal fits Brookfield’s strategy around infrastructure and technology. That includes backing Figure, a humanoid robotics startup. It also includes an AI deployment joint venture with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which marks a shift toward foundational technology platforms 3.