Elon Musk's rocket company just IPO'd, and instead of buying, say, a bigger rocket, it went out and bought an AI coding tool for more money than most countries' GDP. Priorities.

The Biggest Startup Buyout Ever, Paid in Rocket Stock

SpaceX is acquiring AI coding startup Cursor for $60 billion in an all-stock deal, expected to close in Q3 2026. The agreement was actually structured back in April, with SpaceX on the hook for a $10 billion break-up fee if the deal fell through — it didn't, and the acquisition was finalized on June 16, just days after SpaceX's own blockbuster Nasdaq debut.

SpaceX's stock rocketed from its $135 IPO price past $200 within days of going public, making the nine-figure price tag look almost reasonable in equity terms. It's widely considered the largest acquisition of a venture-backed startup in history, and it reportedly doubled the net worths of Cursor's twenty-something cofounders overnight.

Why a Rocket Company Wants Your Autocomplete

SpaceX pitched investors on a jaw-dropping $28 trillion addressable market during its IPO roadshow, with $26 trillion of that centered on AI opportunities — not exactly a rocket-shaped number. Since folding Musk's xAI into the company earlier this year, SpaceX has been racing to build an AI division that can compete with Anthropic and OpenAI, both of which already have wildly popular coding tools of their own.

The kicker: Cursor was reportedly mid-negotiation on a $2 billion funding round from major investors before SpaceX swooped in and made the whole conversation moot. Sometimes the best fundraising strategy is having a company nearby that just printed a trillion dollars of new stock value in an afternoon.

Rockets, satellites, and now your IDE — there's officially no corner of tech Musk's empire isn't trying to occupy.

Source: TechCrunch