SpaceX Surpasses Amazon in Market Value
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has overtaken Amazon to become the world’s fifth-most valuable company shortly after its initial public offering (IPO).
The surge in valuation followed SpaceX’s announcement to acquire Anysphere, the startup behind the AI-powered coding application Cursor, for $60 billion (£44 billion). This acquisition aims to leverage the success of AI in coding tools.
Integration with AI and Business Units
SpaceX is the parent company of Musk’s AI venture xAI, which stands to enhance its capabilities in AI-driven code generation—a sector where competitors like Anthropic, creator of the Claude chatbot, have achieved notable commercial success.
The SpaceX group encompasses the rocket manufacturing company SpaceX, the social media platform X, and Starlink, the satellite internet service provider, which remains the only profitable segment within the group.
Market Capitalization and Share Performance
The announcement of the Cursor acquisition coincided with SpaceX’s market capitalization surpassing $2.5 trillion, a key valuation metric for publicly traded companies. On Tuesday, SpaceX shares opened on the Nasdaq index with a 13% increase.
At its peak, SpaceX’s valuation reached $2.97 trillion, exceeding Amazon’s $2.64 trillion and positioning SpaceX as the fifth most valuable company globally by market capitalization. Subsequently, shares moderated to approximately 10% gains, with a valuation just below $2.8 trillion.
Financial Performance Comparison
SpaceX reported a loss of $4.9 billion in 2025 on revenues of $18.7 billion. In contrast, Amazon posted revenues of $717 billion and a net income of $78 billion, according to U.S. profit measures.
Since its IPO at $135 per share last Friday, SpaceX’s shares have appreciated by about 60%. This public offering has elevated Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, to the status of the world’s richest individual, with a net worth estimated at $1.1 trillion by Forbes. The publication estimates Musk’s total wealth at $1.4 trillion.
Details of the Cursor Acquisition
SpaceX had been in discussions to acquire Cursor, owned by San Francisco-based Anysphere, for several months. In April, SpaceX secured an option to either purchase Anysphere for $60 billion later this year or pay $10 billion for a partnership agreement.
Harrison Rolfes, an analyst at financial research firm PitchBook, stated, "Owning the tool that professional developers already trust daily is a faster path to enterprise AI revenue than winning the model race." He also noted that the deal would not "close the gap" between xAI’s models and those developed by Anthropic and OpenAI, but gaining access to Cursor’s user base of over 1 million is strategically valuable.
Anysphere is among several Silicon Valley startups attracting developers by automating coding through AI, positioning it as a significant competitor to market leaders Anthropic and OpenAI. However, Cursor’s growth has been limited by restricted access to computing power, which SpaceX can provide as a data center operator.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, commented, "Cursor does not have the scale of OpenAI or Anthropic, but it has built some very impressive coding models relative to cost. That makes this a positive move for SpaceX."
In its IPO filing, SpaceX indicated that Cursor’s access to developers’ data—including coding requests and design decisions—could enhance its AI models such as Grok.
The acquisition will be executed through stock issuance to Anysphere, as disclosed in regulatory filings, and will not utilize proceeds from SpaceX’s IPO. The transaction is anticipated to close in the third quarter of 2026.
Implications of SpaceX’s Valuation on Acquisitions
Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman highlighted that SpaceX’s high stock valuation benefits the company by reducing the dilution impact of share issuance for large acquisitions like Anysphere.
"One of the things that makes SpaceX so valuable is how valuable it is. The Cursor acquisition costs materially less in dilution because of SpaceX’s high valuation," Ackman posted on X.
Anysphere is supported by prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms including Andreessen Horowitz and Thrive, as well as technology companies Nvidia and Google.
Potential Effects on Data Center Agreements
It remains unclear whether the acquisition will influence SpaceX’s data center leasing agreements with other companies. Recently, SpaceX secured deals with Anthropic and Google to lease cloud computing capacity valued at approximately $26 billion annually.
Both agreements include 90-day termination clauses, allowing SpaceX to reclaim computing resources quickly if necessary.
contributed to this report.
