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SpaceX’s bonds dropped in price on Friday, just days after it raised $25bn in a blockbuster debt deal, as investors cast doubts over the long-term prospects of Elon Musk’s rocket and AI company.
The yield on the group’s 10-year debt rose to almost 6 per cent, pushing the gap with Treasuries, known as the “spread”, to above 1.6 percentage points, up 0.2 percentage points from when the debt was issued this week.
SpaceX was among the worst performers in the high-grade bond market on Friday, MarketAxess data shows.
The sell-off means the company’s bonds are trading at levels closer to those of junk-rated borrowers, despite the group’s investment-grade status from major rating agencies. SpaceX paid a higher borrowing cost than similarly rated companies during its bond sale on Tuesday.
“In investment-grade credit, what we focus on is whether a company can service its debt,” said Michael Campion, a portfolio manager at PGIM, referring to lossmaking borrowers in general. “We’re used to lending based on actual cash flows rather than expectations.”
SpaceX posted a net loss of $4.9bn on revenues of $18.7bn in 2025.
The company raised $86bn in an initial public offering earlier this month at a $1.78tn valuation that rests on projections that its AI revenues will surge in coming years.
The group’s equity has swung wildly since the IPO, sending its market value to almost $3tn at its peak before sinking to $2tn.
SpaceX’s borrowing shortly after its record-breaking IPO is a clear sign that markets are entering “bubble territory”, Ludovic Subran, chief investment officer at Allianz, told delegates at this week’s FT Global Insurance Summit.
“Bond investors are not the same as equity investors. Equity investors, you can take them to Mars. Bond investors are, like, ‘where is my coupon?’,” Subran said.
In a sign of fragile investor confidence over SpaceX’s prospects, the company’s long-term debt is under even more severe selling pressure. Its bonds maturing in 2046 and 2056 were trading at spreads of 1.93 and 2.01 percentage points, respectively, compared to 1.65 and 1.75 percentage points at issuance, MarketAxess data shows.
Credit spreads on a basket of US corporate bonds with similar triple B ratings — the lowest investment-grade score — were 0.95 percentage points, while those for speculative-grade borrowers with a double B rating were 1.67 percentage points, according to Ice Data Services.
SpaceX’s heavy reliance on Musk’s leadership, combined with the absence of a succession plan, have made its long-term debt less attractive, said James Dow, professor at London Business School.
“Right now, the company’s value depends on [Musk] . . . but he’ll be very old in 30 years,” Dow said. “The corporate governance is exceptionally weak.”
