By Becky Peterson and Corrie Driebusch

J. André Lavoie moved to northern Italy five years ago, and bought a hotel in Pontebba, which he has been renovating.

Paying for the project won't be a problem. The former SpaceX engineer was granted shares in the company years ago, and is poised to score big when it goes public next week, with his stake valued at more than $28 million at SpaceX's planned IPO price.

Beyond the hotel, he is already entertaining other ways to spend that fortune, including fantasies of helping the town where he lives switch from wood-burning to cleaner heating options.

"I don't want to just die with a pile of money in the bank," he said.

Once Elon Musk's SpaceX makes its stock-market debut, Lavoie will be among the thousands of current and former employees who will be able to more easily cash in on their equity stakes in the rocket-and-satellite maker, which they have watched soar in value in the run-up to what is set to be the biggest initial public offering of all time.

The beneficiaries include not just engineers and other white-collar workers, but the legions of technicians who build the company's rockets, as well as baristas and other salaried employees who work at SpaceX campuses in California, Texas and Florida. Some have held on to stakes that were valued at less than $2 a share when they were granted, and the company hadn't yet landed a rocket. Stock splits over the years increased people's holdings as the company's value skyrocketed.

Now, SpaceX is planning to price its IPO at $135 a share at a valuation of roughly $1.77 trillion, with ambitions to colonize Mars.

Employees and other insiders generally won't be able to sell their pre-IPO shares for a few months, because of lockup periods intended to prevent a flood of sudden sales. But SpaceX has provisions that could let some employees sell small quantities as soon as July.

Maryellyn Musselman, 27 years old, doesn't know yet if she will sell her shares right away.

"I think it will be an 11th-hour decision," she said.

Musselman joined SpaceX in 2022 as an engineering officer on a vessel that retrieved rocket parts that fell into the ocean off the Florida coast. During her two years at the company, she put aside 10% of her paycheck into equity, on top of the equity she got as part of her compensation.

She knew it was a risk, but thought it could pay off and help her start her own business one day.

"Mariners are not usually stock owners in their companies, they're not always under benefits," she said.

Musselman declined to say how much her shares are worth today, but said her goal is to own a repair-based business in Chesapeake, Va., where she works as a mariner.

Many who hold SpaceX shares have already sold off chunks of their holdings over the years. Roughly twice a year, SpaceX has allowed employees and early investors to sell their shares to other insiders and investors in secondary sales.

In Italy, Lavoie kept revising his plans as he watched the value of his shares rise.

"Every year the shares have been going up so radically it keeps messing up my life plans," said Lavoie, 63, who left SpaceX in 2015.

Other former employees who spoke to The Wall Street Journal said they have sold shares to pay off a spouse's student loans, buy their parents a summer home, cover costs for fertility treatments and strike out to start their own dream businesses.

Juan Hernandez is among those whose lives have already been changed by early SpaceX shares. Hernandez immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico and learned how to weld because the pay was good. In 2015, he heard about a job opportunity at SpaceX.

"I didn't even know what SpaceX was when my friend was talking about it, but the money was sufficient at the time," said Hernandez, 42.

He started as a contractor for $28 an hour, then was hired full time and given an equity stake valued at $10,000 that vested over five years. Like other employees, Hernandez had the option to use a portion of his paycheck to buy more shares, which he did over the years.

In 2020, he began selling off small chunks of his stake as SpaceX hit a $36 billion valuation. He used the money to buy properties around Texas and build a small real-estate business with his wife.

His remaining shares are worth around $880,000 at the IPO price.

"It's put me in a comfortable position for life," said Hernandez, who left SpaceX last year . He now works as a welder on Blue Origin's rocket-launch site.

Write to Becky Peterson at becky.peterson@wsj.com and Corrie Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 05, 2026 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)

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