Case study · North America
SpaceX: the liquidity calendar, not the liquidity event
The situation
SpaceX has repeatedly signaled it has no near-term interest in going public — its leadership has said as much publicly, framing the company's capital needs and reporting obligations as easier to manage as a private entity. But the workforce and investor base still needed a way to realize value from years of equity appreciation.
How the deal worked
Instead of a one-off tender, SpaceX has run tender offers on an approximately semi-annual cadence for several years, each one repricing the company at its then-current valuation. Reported rounds have moved the company's valuation from roughly $150 billion in 2022 to well over $350 billion by 2025 across successive tenders. Each tender follows a similar mechanic: a lead investor or investor group (often including existing backers) agrees to purchase a set dollar amount of shares from current employees and shareholders at a fixed price per share, with the company controlling who is eligible to sell and how much.
Because SpaceX runs this on a schedule rather than opportunistically, employees and early investors can plan around it — the way one might plan around a vesting cliff or a compensation review, rather than waiting years for an uncertain IPO window.
The outcome
SpaceX has become the reference example for "secondary liquidity as infrastructure": a company doesn't need to be public to give its shareholders a functioning, if imperfect, market for their shares. The scheduled tenders have also become a widely watched proxy for the company's valuation trajectory, since there is no public share price to track otherwise.
What it teaches
Predictability matters as much as access. A single tender offer solves a liquidity problem once; a recurring program changes how employees and investors think about holding illiquid equity in the first place, because they know another window is coming.
What to look for in a deal like this
- The cadence. A programme run on a predictable schedule lets shareholders plan around it, which is materially different from a discretionary one-off.
- Who is buying: the company itself, existing investors, or new entrants. Each implies a different reason for the round to exist.
- Whether the price moves between rounds, and on what basis — a scheduled programme still needs a defensible valuation each time.
Frequently asked
Why would a company run tenders twice a year instead of listing?
Because it captures most of the employee-liquidity benefit of being public without the disclosure, quarterly-reporting and shareholder-composition consequences. For companies with reliable access to private capital, the trade looks attractive.
Is a recurring tender the same as being publicly traded?
No. Price is set periodically rather than continuously, participation is capped and permissioned, and there is no market to sell into between windows. It is scheduled liquidity, not a market.
Compare this with the other North America deals in thecase-study index, or readwhy secondary sales happen for the motivation behind each deal shape. The glossary defines the terms used above.