# June 12 — One of the Largest IPOs in History: SpaceX Arrives Like a Final Boss. But More Than Anything Else — the Compensation Package Tied to Putting a Million People on Mars

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/yesterday-i-went-to-mars-7106663/june-12-one-of-the-largest-ipos-in-history-spacex-arrives-like-a-final-boss-but-more-than-anything-else-the-compensation-package-tied-to-putting-a-million-people-on-mars
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/yesterday-i-went-to-mars-7106663/june-12-one-of-the-largest-ipos-in-history-spacex-arrives-like-a-final-boss-but-more-than-anything-else-the-compensation-package-tied-to-putting-a-million-people-on-mars.md
Podcast: [*“Yesterday, I Went to Mars ♡”*](https://stenobird.com/podcast/yesterday-i-went-to-mars-7106663)
Published: 2026-06-09T13:10:21+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/makotowillolympusmons/episodes/June-12--One-of-the-Largest-IPOs-in-History-SpaceX-Arrives-Like-a-Final-Boss--But-More-Than-Anything-Else--the-Compensation-Package-Tied-to-Putting-a-Million-People-on-Mars-e3ki17u
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/fcce555c/podcast/play/121225918/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-5-9%2F0830345d-27d2-cbef-8550-98a79e877f9b.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/yesterday-i-went-to-mars-7106663/episodes/june-12-one-of-the-largest-ipos-in-history-spacex-arrives-like-a-final-boss-but-more-than-anything-else-the-compensation-package-tied-to-putting-a-million-people-on-mars
Duration seconds: 573

## Resource

This episode looks at the SpaceX IPO — one of the largest in history — and why the feverish energy around buying shares on listing night might be worth pausing before joining. It walks through the numbers with some care: at $1.75 trillion, SpaceX enters the market already larger than Tesla, already equivalent to five Toyotas stacked together, already controlling roughly 90% of the commercial rocket launch market. The sweetest growth, the argument goes, happened while the company was still private. There is no reason to rush by even a millimeter. But the more absorbing part of the episode is what came next — the compensation package that a forty-five-year veteran of Wall Street called "the most outrageous deal" of his career. To receive up to 200 million restricted shares, two conditions must be met: the company's valuation reaches $7.5 trillion, and a permanent Mars colony of at least one million people is established. No revenue target. No profit margin. Just those two things — one of them a science-fiction goal that could take decades and lies partly beyond any one person's control. There is also a quiet personal thread running through it all: a nearly finished Lego lunar rover on the desk, a small private ambition involving Olympus Mons, and something about the Beethoven ritual of counting exactly sixty coffee beans each morning before beginning the Ninth. A reflection on what it means to cast a vote — not just financially, but personally — in favor of an idea so large and so unhinged that its very seriousness is what makes it worth believing in.

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