Good morning. Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX will break records (and Wall Street\u2019s rules) when it goes public tomorrow \u2013 more on that below, along with Ottawa\u2019s social media ban and Bill Gates\u2019s closed-door Epstein hearing. But first:<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s headlinesOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n SpaceX will be the world’s largest IPO.Jeenah Moon\/Reuters<\/p>\n BusinessReady to launch<\/p>\n Elon Musk has a lot of ambitions. He wants to occupy Mars. He wants to repopulate Earth, starting with his own 14 children. He desperately \u2013 desperately<\/a> \u2013 wants to be seen as funny. And he wants to become the world\u2019s first trillionaire, which will almost certainly happen tomorrow<\/a> when his company SpaceX goes public.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how that works. After two decades of raising billions from private investors, Musk has decided his rocket-ship-and-satellite-internet-and-now-also-AI conglomerate<\/a> should dip into an even larger pool of capital. Once SpaceX debuts on the stock market tomorrow, the general public can for the first time buy<\/a> a piece of the company. <\/p>\n More than 555 million shares will be up for purchase at US$135 each, meaning SpaceX\u2019s initial public offering could raise a whopping US$75-billion, making it the biggest IPO in history. This seems a safe bet: Demand from investors is reportedly four times<\/a> greater than the number of shares available. And since those shares represent barely 4 per cent of the company, a little back-of-the-napkin math says the whole thing is worth US$1.77-trillion \u2013 easily putting SpaceX among the 10 most valuable companies in the world. <\/p>\n As for Musk, he\u2019s already worth somewhere in the neighbourhood of US$700-billion, at least twice as much as his nearest competitor, Google co-founder Larry Page. Even after tomorrow\u2019s IPO, Musk owns almost half the total shares of SpaceX, and as its value catapults, so does his, all the way past US$1-trillion.<\/p>\n Can we just pause for a second on how staggeringly rich that is? One trillion dollars is one million million dollars. If you spent $1-million a day, it would take you more than 2,700 years to blow through a trillion. If you spent $1-million an hour, it\u2019d still take more than a century to use up all that cash. One trillion dollars buys you<\/a> pretty much every sports team on the planet. One trillion dollars makes you the planet\u2019s 21st-richest country.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n You’ll remember this photo.Brian Snyder\/Reuters<\/p>\n It also makes you rich enough to break Wall Street\u2019s rules<\/a>. \u201cSpaceX\u2019s IPO is different and kind of wacky in all kinds of ways,\u201d James Bradshaw, The Globe\u2019s institutional investing reporter, told me. A company will usually huddle with its bankers to determine a range for its share price, which it then runs past investors before finalizing a number right before the IPO. Musk skipped all that: SpaceX will cost US$135 a share, take it or leave it. <\/p>\n And he\u2019s so confident everyone will take it that he\u2019s changed who can buy those shares, as well. Typically, 90 to 95 per cent are reserved for banks, pension funds and other major investors \u2013 but Musk is making up to 30 per cent available to regular folks. \u201cHe needs a lot of investors to digest the shares he\u2019s dumping into the market,\u201d Bradshaw said. \u201cAnd Musk has an intensely loyal fanbase who\u2019ve proven with Tesla<\/a> they\u2019re not that sensitive to how expensive this gets.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s more: Public companies normally face a long cooling-off period before they\u2019re added to the big stock indexes, since the months after an IPO can be so unstable. But Musk persuaded several indexes, including the Nasdaq 100, to bend their rules and list SpaceX within days of going public. (The S&P 500 held firm<\/a>.) Because of that, index funds \u2013 which are large stock portfolios that mirror the composition of an index \u2013 will quickly need to go on a SpaceX buying spree, competing with other investors and driving up the price.<\/p>\n Do you invest in an index fund? Does your pension plan? It\u2019s entirely likely, given index funds are such a popular and inexpensive way to own the entire market. And that means you\u2019re about to become a part-owner of SpaceX, whether you\u2019d want to or not. But a little ownership doesn\u2019t get you much of anything: Musk\u2019s shares come with special voting rights that effectively hand him control<\/a> of 85 per cent of SpaceX. \u201cHe can\u2019t be fired as CEO. He\u2019s made it harder for shareholders to have oversight or sue in court,\u201d Bradshaw told me. \u201cHe\u2019s just got a complete iron grip over this company.\u201d<\/p>\n SpaceX isn\u2019t actually a profitable business. It lost nearly US$5-billion<\/a> last year on revenues of US$18.7-billion; only Starlink, its communications network, earned any money in 2026\u2019s first three months. But a company is worth whatever people are willing to pay for it, and tomorrow, a whole bunch of investors will fork over enough to make Musk a trillionaire \u2013 then we all cross our fingers that their big bet pays off.<\/p>\n The Shot\u2018I just keep going until my van stops moving.\u2019Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Yo Cusano wins their heat in last month’s minivan race in Surrey, B.C.Jennifer Gauthier\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n Demolition derbies are helping LGBTQ+ racers smash gender norms right alongside their cars. Read more here about the new face of the motorsport<\/a>.<\/p>\n The WrapWhat else we\u2019re following<\/p>\n At home: Ottawa introduced its new digital safety bill<\/a>, requiring tech companies to regulate chatbots and keep kids under 16 off their social media platforms (for now).<\/p>\n Abroad: Violent anti-immigration protests erupted in Belfast after a knife attack<\/a>, renewing concerns about the open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n Health: The use of nicotine pouches has surged among Canadians in their 20s<\/a>, jumping from 0.8 per cent to 8.5 per cent over the past three years.<\/p>\n Wealth: In a closed-door U.S. congressional hearing, Bill Gates said he made \u201ca grave error in judgment\u201d meeting with Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, but denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n Sports: FIFA president Gianni Infantino offered zero apologies<\/a> for World Cup ticket prices and suggested people \u201cshould chill\u201d about the Somali referee denied U.S. entry.<\/p>\n