Economist Robert Reich slammed Elon Musk-led SpaceX‘s IPO scheduled for Friday, criticizing the event as a “Ponzi scheme” and comparing it with the short-lived Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Largest Ponzi Scheme
In a post on X on Thursday, Reich shared a link to a Substack article he wrote. “Tomorrow’s I.P.O. of SpaceX could turn out to be the universe’s largest Ponzi scheme,” adding that it was forcing people to pay the price “whether we like it or not.”
Robert Reich Criticizes SpaceX IPO
“Musk is offering SpaceX stock at roughly 100 times the company’s total revenue in 2025,” he said in the article, pointing to the commercial space flight company’s $18.7 billion revenue last year. Reich called it a “ballsy” move.
He also said that SpaceX’s goal of interplanetary inhabitation and interstellar travel were “inherently speculative endeavors,” and that the IPO was “nothing more than a show of faith in Musk.”
Reich delivered sharp criticism of the company’s governance structure, saying that Musk’s Class-B shares “will have 10 times the voting power of a share offered to the public,” and shareholders will have “any voice whatsoever.”
People won’t have a choice about whether to invest in SpaceX or not if they have savings put in index funds, Reich lamented. “A big chunk of Americans’ retirement savings and pensions (as well as university endowments) will automatically be tied to SpaceX’s market value,” the economist said.
“The closer you look at the SpaceX IPO, the more it looks like Musk’s ill-fated DOGE. It also bears a striking resemblance to Trump’s takeover of the U.S. government,” adding that it all depended on the will of a man with “a giant ego and an insatiable thirst for money and power.”
Reich also pointed to Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) calling for delaying the IPO. The Massachusetts Senator warned of “misleading” or “inaccurate” accounting of valuation ahead of the IPO.
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