Gibson Dunn is serving as lead counsel to SpaceX on its initial public offering and listing on Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas — the largest public market debut in history — as the company raised $75 billion in gross proceeds at $135 per share to reach a valuation of $1.77 trillion, with Latham & Watkins separately advising the underwriters for UK and European investors in a dual-firm advisory structure that places two of the largest Am Law 100 practices at the centre of the defining capital markets transaction of 2026.
The Gibson Dunn capital markets team is led by partners Hillary Holmes, Harrison Tucker and Atma Kabad, with a bench spanning capital markets, securities regulation, governance, AI, aerospace regulatory, litigation, tax, antitrust, M&A and employee compensation — a team composition that reflects the breadth of legal work required on a technology company of SpaceX’s scope and regulatory complexity.
Partners Cassandra Gaedt-Sheckter, Vivek Mohan and Frances Waldmann are advising on AI regulatory aspects — a practice area that has become standard on major technology IPOs given the pervasive AI dimensions of technology company valuations and disclosure obligations. Partners Matthew Axelrod and Lindsay Paulin are advising on aerospace regulatory aspects given SpaceX’s status as a licensed launch operator.
The global offering structure required dedicated counsel in multiple jurisdictions. In London, partners Steve Thierbach, Michelle Kirschner, Chris Haynes and Benjamin Fryer advised on the UK retail offering. In Madrid, partner Armando Albarrán and of counsel Alfonso Bernar covered EU retail offering aspects. In Munich, partner Ferdinand Fromholzer advised on additional EU retail offering matters. Latham & Watkins separately steered the underwriting banks — understood to include Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — on their UK and European investor allocation responsibilities.
SpaceX shares rose 29 percent on their first day of trading on Nasdaq, confirming strong institutional and retail demand across the transatlantic investor base. The company, headed by Elon Musk, includes the Starlink satellite internet service and xAI, the AI company behind the Grok platform.
For capital markets practices the transaction sets a new benchmark for technology IPO advisory complexity — the Gibson Dunn team alone spans eleven distinct practice areas across multiple jurisdictions. The dual-firm structure, with Gibson Dunn advising the issuer and Latham & Watkins advising the underwriters, reflects the scale of the transaction and the regulatory breadth that a company of SpaceX’s profile requires.
For Magic Circle firms including Freshfields, Clifford Chance and Linklaters the transaction reinforces the competitive pressure from US firms on cross-border technology capital markets work — a pressure that is expected to intensify as Anthropic and OpenAI approach their own listings later in 2026.