What Goldman’s lead role in SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO means for investors

Goldman Sachs is soaring after securing a key role in SpaceX's historic IPO. Elon Musk 's rocket company has selected the bank for the record-setting public debut, according to a prospectus filed on Wednesday. The deal is a financial windfall that positions Goldman's dealmaking division to potentially win lead roles in other major IPOs expected in the near future, including OpenAI and Anthropic. "This is a huge win for Goldman Sachs and a verification that this Investing Club stock is in pole position for all the big ones," Jim Cramer said. Shares of Goldman rose nearly 6% on Wednesday. SpaceX's IPO is expected to be the largest ever, following a recent acquisition that valued the company at $1.25 trillion. In the highly coveted "lead left" position on the IPO prospectus, Goldman will likely spearhead the ultimate share allocation, pricing, and valuation — and reap the biggest share of the associated fees. Goldman Sachs declined CNBC's request for comment. "It's going to be a big source of revenue," said Jay Ritter, a University of Florida professor known as "Mr. IPO" for his extensive industry research, adding that Goldman will share the proceeds with the other syndicate members: Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan. Executing a deal of this size can be tricky, according to Matt Kennedy, a senior IPO strategist at Renaissance Capital. "Pricing IPOs is often more art than science. The relationships that the bank has, the reputation of its equity research team, the ability to place the IPO with institutions, price the deal appropriately, and handle any post IPO trading," he said, adding: "It can be hard to do." It also stands to be very lucrative. SpaceX's IPO is expected to be at least double the size of Alibaba's $25 billion IPO in 2014, sources told CNBC's Leslie Picker. The Chinese e-commerce company paid $300.4 million in underwriting commissions to banks, roughly 1.2% of the total deal. Other massive IPOs, such as Facebook parent Meta Platforms in 2012 and Uber in 2019, also charged slightly more than 1%. Applying the same math, the SpaceX IPO could generate more than $500 million in underwriting fees, split among the participating banks. For reference, Goldman posted total equity underwriting revenue of $535 million last quarter. GS YTD mountain Goldman Sachs (GS) year to date performance This kind of dealmaking is at the heart of our investment thesis in Goldman. We started a position in January of 2025 on the hope of a rebound in M & A and IPOs during President Donald Trump's second term. And so far, Goldman's dealmaking line has improved. Investment banking fees jumped 48% to $2.84 billion last quarter, roughly $340 million more than analysts' estimates. Some deal activity, however, stalled earlier in the year due to volatility caused by the U.S.-Iran war. But while "market conditions hampered execution for IPOs … activity levels will rebound once conditions stabilize," CEO David Solomon said during the company's April earnings. That could include two more monster IPOs. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that OpenAI is preparing to confidentially file a draft of its IPO prospectus as soon as Friday. Goldman and Morgan Stanley are reportedly working with the AI startup, sources familiar told CNBC. In March, OpenAI announced a record-breaking $122 billion funding round at a $852 billion post-money valuation. Anthropic secured a $30 billion raise in February, giving the Claude creator a post-money valuation of $380 billion. Echoing Jim's earlier remarks, Kennedy said that SpaceX could give Goldman an edge over rival investment banks. "If they can pull this off, that'll help their reputation for sure, especially if they're pitching for the OpenAI and Anthropic deals." (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long GS and META. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER. NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.