SpaceX Stock Slips to $152 as $89 Billion Bond Demand Removes Bridge Loan Risk

SpaceX shares fell 1.61% to $152.05 on Thursday morning, continuing a volatile stretch since the company's blockbuster public debut, even as a massively oversubscribed bond offering has removed one of the key risks that had been weighing on the stock in recent days.

A Brutal Three-Day Stretch Before the Bond Deal

The stock's recent struggles trace back to a sharp, multi-day selloff earlier in the week. SpaceX stock fell before the bell on Tuesday, set to pick up on a three-day run of losses after a massive run-up following its IPO earlier this month. They closed down 16.4% on Monday, the biggest down day for the newly debuted stock, following a 3.6% drop on Thursday and a 5% drop on Wednesday. The three-day losing streak caps a big pop in the stock following its IPO and first day of trade on June 12.

At one point during the stock's run-up to a high of around $225 a share, SpaceX topped Amazon and even Microsoft to become the fourth-most-valuable public company. The recently listed company launched with a $1.23 trillion market capitalization following its IPO.

What Triggered the Selloff

The catalyst behind the sharp decline was the company's announcement of its first-ever bond issuance. SpaceX confirmed its first-ever bond sale in a filing, intending to use the net proceeds to repay the outstanding borrowings under its bridge loan facility in full, along with other related fees and expenses. The bridge loan in question was secured earlier this year when SpaceX, led by CEO Elon Musk, acquired Musk's own xAI startup in February. Per Reuters, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley provided the bridge financing and are expected to run the deal.

A Mechanical, Leverage-Driven Decline

Analysts have largely attributed the magnitude of the selloff to technical and leverage dynamics rather than any fundamental deterioration in SpaceX's business. Saxo Bank's UK Investor Strategist Neil Wilson suggested the market reaction says far more about how mega-cap technology stocks behave than about SpaceX's underlying financial health, centering his explanation on passive fund positioning around the time of the offering.

The volatility extended well beyond SpaceX itself. The damage rippled internationally, with the MSCI Asia index falling 2.3%, its largest intraday decline in two weeks, while South Korea's Kospi dropped more than 8% due to its heavy technology weighting, and Nasdaq futures signaled declines of 1.3% to 1.7% — illustrating just how much a single stock's volatility can move entire regional markets given current concentration levels.

Overwhelming Demand for the Bonds Themselves

Despite the equity market's negative reaction, the actual bond offering itself drew extraordinary investor interest. SpaceX's $25 billion bond offering attracted $89 billion in demand, a 3.5 times oversubscription signaling strong institutional confidence. The five-tranche bond sale received a total of $89 billion in market orders, representing an oversubscription rate of over four times, placing it among the largest U.S. corporate bond issuances on record. The offering was spread across five tranches of senior notes maturing between 2031 and 2056, with interest rates rising from 5.35% on the shortest maturity to 6.65% on the longest.

The Bridge Loan Risk Has Been Resolved

Crucially, the successful bond sale eliminates a specific, hard deadline that had been weighing on the stock. This bond settlement date on June 26 is something to look out for, because once that gets done, the equity will have no more major technical structure to overcome during the week. The September 2027 deadline on the $20 billion bridge loan was the key hard deadline that drove most of the price fall from $225 to $147.11. The bridge loan will be paid off once the June 26 settlement has cleared, meaning that bridge risk is removed entirely. All SpaceX's debts are now spread across five different maturities ranging from 2031 to 2056, with the nearest one maturing only five years from now.

A Significant Bounce Following the Bond Pricing

Once the bond's strong demand became clear, the stock staged a notable recovery off its intraday low. Fueled by the enthusiastic demand for its bond offering, SpaceX's stock price surged over 7% at one point, trading at $163.06 and bringing its market capitalization back to the $2.14 trillion level.

Remaining Concerns Beyond the Bridge Loan

Despite the resolution of the bridge loan risk, several other factors continue to weigh on sentiment toward the stock. Other problems persist, including xAI operating losses, S&P's free-cash-flow-through-2029 bearish outlook, the stock's lockup ending in December 2026, and Morningstar's $62 fair value estimate — though the September 2027 bridge loan cliff is no longer an issue following the bond settlement.

A Dramatic Impact on Elon Musk's Net Worth

SpaceX's rocky post-IPO trading, as well as recent weakness in Tesla stock, has also hit CEO Elon Musk's wealth. The mercurial Musk was the first person to top $1 trillion in wealth following SpaceX's IPO, but his total net worth on paper has slipped slightly. Bloomberg's Billionaires Index now lists Musk's wealth at $957.1 billion, a drop of nearly $360 billion from the high of $1.315 trillion hit in the days after SpaceX's IPO and market debut.

A New AI Infrastructure Contract

Beyond the bond sale, SpaceX has also continued expanding its presence in artificial intelligence infrastructure through new commercial agreements. The company has signed a $6.3 billion AI infrastructure contract with Reflection AI, expanding its role as a compute provider, with proceeds from the bond sale expected to support that AI infrastructure buildout alongside the bridge loan repayment.

A Company Spanning Three Distinct Business Segments

SpaceX's Space segment designs, manufactures, and launches reusable rockets to provide access to space, offering launch services using Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Starship, and Dragon for both commercial and government customers. The company's AI segment operates a vertically integrated AI platform spanning the Grok large language model, AI solutions for consumer and enterprise customers, the X social media platform, and AI computational infrastructure. Separately, the company's Connectivity segment operates Starlink, delivering high-speed, low-latency broadband service in the United States, Ireland, Canada, and internationally. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Starbase, Texas.

Increased Short Selling Activity

Reflecting the divided sentiment surrounding the stock, bearish positioning has continued to build in recent sessions. Short selling bets against SpaceX have increased following the post-debut share selloff, according to Reuters reporting, suggesting at least some market participants continue betting on further downside even after the bond deal's strong reception.

A Gap Between the Stock Price and Analyst Targets

Despite the recent volatility, the stock continues trading below where several analysts believe it should be valued. Space Exploration Technologies trades at approximately $154.60, about 18% below the $187.80 analyst price target, with the stock also assessed as trading more than 23% below one firm's estimated fair value.

With the bond settlement set to clear on June 26 and the September 2027 bridge loan deadline now effectively resolved, SpaceX's near-term stock trajectory will likely depend on whether investors begin separating the company's underlying business fundamentals — including its dominant launch market share, growing Starlink subscriber base, and expanding AI infrastructure contracts — from the technical and leverage-driven volatility that has characterized its first weeks as a public company. Given the stock's continued distance from several analysts' price targets and the persistent concerns around xAI's operating losses, SpaceX's path forward will likely remain closely watched as one of the most consequential and volatile stories in the market through the remainder of 2026.