04.04.2026 08:00
According to multiple internet sources, Elon Musk has tied participation in SpaceX’s potentially historic initial public offering to a unique condition: financial institutions competing for advisory roles must commit to subscriptions for his artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok. Reported by a major American newspaper, this directive has already secured agreements from several Wall Street firms, which are now allocating tens of millions of dollars annually for the service and beginning to integrate it into their internal technology frameworks.
The mandate is absolute, not merely a suggestion, insider accounts confirm. Musk is leveraging the unparalleled opportunity to earn fees from what could become the largest IPO ever—a deal targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation and aiming to raise up to $75 billion in a planned June Nasdaq listing. The enticement is exclusive access to the lucrative underwriting and advisory roles surrounding this landmark offering.
A consortium of premier banks has been selected to manage the colossal offering. The five active bookrunners—Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley—are leading the charge. International heavyweights such as the Royal Bank of Canada, Mizuho Financial Group, and Macquarie Group have also joined the syndicate, focusing on distributing shares within their regional markets.
Separately, Musk has encouraged these same institutions to purchase advertising on his social media platform, X. However, individuals familiar with the private discussions indicate that his insistence on this second request was notably softer compared to the non-negotiable Grok subscription requirement.
This strategic push follows SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI in an all-stock transaction completed in February 2026, which formally brought the Grok chatbot and the X platform under the corporate umbrella. At the time, xAI was valued at an impressive $250 billion. Despite its high-profile backing, Grok currently holds the fourth position in the fiercely competitive AI chatbot arena, trailing behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini.
