The 5 strangest things about SpaceX’s IPO prospectus | CNN Business

If you’re headed out for a long weekend and yearning for a good beach read, consider this buzzy title: Form S-1 Registration Statement Under the Securities Act of 1933: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. AKA, the SpaceX IPO prospectus. This thing slaps. While these kinds of filings are often dry, the SpaceX S-1 reveals key details about the finances and operations of the most valuable private company, run by the world’s wealthiest person, ahead of what is likely to be the biggest public stock listing ever. Over more than 270 pages, it lays out the mission of Elon Musk’s space exploration-slash-AI-slash-social-media company. The purpose of an S-1 is to give investors all the details they need about a company’s business model, including potential risk factors and audited financial statements. Here are some of the wildest things we learned. Musk’s Mars obsession has been part of the SpaceX mission since he founded the company in 2002, and it seems he’s as committed as ever. The word “Mars” appears 63 times in the document, including under the “executive compensation” section. In short, the SpaceX board granted Musk an award of 1 billion restricted shares on the c