JPMorgan CEO Plans to Promote SpaceX IPO to Ultra-High-Net-Worth Clients

JPMorgan Chase Unveils Unprecedented Nationwide Push for SpaceX IPO

Jamie Dimon, Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., will host a "live interactive discussion" with thousands of the bank's high-net-worth clients on Thursday from the bank's headquarters. The event, which will be simulcast to about 90 JPMorgan locations across 26 states, is part of an unprecedented nationwide push in coordination with the leaders of SpaceX, the rocket maker that is set to make its initial public offering (IPO) next week.

Dimon will be joined by Mary Callahan Erdoes, the CEO of the bank's asset and wealth management division, and a pair of SpaceX executives: President Gwynne Shotwell and Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen. More than 2,500 of the bank's clients are expected to attend the event, which is an extraordinary scope for a bank's push ahead of an IPO.

The appeal to retail investors reflects the importance of that cohort to Elon Musk's business empire. SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is seeking to raise $75 billion when it goes public next week at a target valuation of almost $1.77 trillion. The hype around SpaceX has helped drive a resurgence in IPO activity, with OpenAI and Anthropic also preparing to go public.

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The share sale is set for June 11 and SpaceX is expected to begin trading the following day, according to terms of the deal. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was selected last month as the lead bank for the SpaceX listing alongside Morgan Stanley, long seen as the banker to Musk. JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp., and Citigroup Inc. are also among the 23 banks working on the listing.

Like JPMorgan, Bank of America has its own client event planned, with Co-President Jim De Mare speaking with Shotwell and Johnsen. More than 5,000 clients across its private bank and Merrill Lynch have been invited to watch the Thursday conversation, which will be streamed to offices across the US.

JPMorgan's involvement is notable in light of the bank's tumultuous history with Musk, SpaceX's CEO. The firm sued Musk's electric-car maker Tesla Inc. in 2021 over a series of stock-warrant transactions affected by the billionaire's short-lived attempt to take the EV manufacturer private. While Tesla countersued soon thereafter, the two sides agreed to drop the litigation in November 2024.

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