SpaceX IPO Plan Puts $2.9 Trillion of Listings on the Table

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Photographer: Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP/Getty Images

The floodgates could be poised to burst open on Wall Street for $2.9 trillion worth of private companies that have avoided going public for years.

The prospect of a SpaceX IPO, preparing the ground for so-called centicorns valued privately at $100 billion or more, raises a dangerous question for all involved: How eager will stock investors be to embrace companies with controversial leaders, little or no profits and private-market valuations so swollen that they’ll dwarf every company that has previously made its debut on a US exchange?