SpaceX officially listed on the Nasdaq on Friday under the ticker symbol SPCX, what is being called the biggest IPO in history. With the stock priced at $135 per share and the company valued at around $1.77 trillion, investors are now waiting for the first trade to see how Wall Street reacts to Elon Musk‘s space giant. However, while excitement filled Times Square ahead of the market debut, protests also grabbed attention just hours before trading began.
Rocket man plays as crowds gather for IPO debut
Times Square was packed on Friday morning, not for a sporting event or concert, but for SpaceX’s stock market debut. A live video feed of Elon Musk was projected onto the outside of the Nasdaq building as crowds gathered ahead of the opening bell. Music blasted through the square, with Elton John’s Rocket Man playing as investors and onlookers waited for trading to begin. All eyes were on the market’s opening moments, when investors would decide whether the company could live up to its massive valuation.
Giant inflatable Musk appears overnight
Earlier in the day, New Yorkers woke up to a giant inflatable version of Musk towering above Times Square. The shirtless figure appeared overnight and featured several messages criticizing Musk and his companies. One large tattoo across the inflatable’s chest and back read, “SpaceX’s Grok makes AI child porn.” The message referred to criticism surrounding Grok, the AI chatbot developed by xAI and later integrated into SpaceX’s operations.
In January, Musk responded to concerns by saying that “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.” The official X account has also said the platform maintains “zero tolerance for any forms of child sexual exploitation.”
Protest group targets SpaceX investors
The inflatable was part of a campaign organised by Safe AI Now (SAIN), a coalition that says it includes faith leaders, child-safety organisations and advocacy groups.
“The goal of this effigy of Musk is to deliver a simple warning to investors: Musk built a dangerous and exploitative AI, covered up the damage, merged it with SpaceX, and is now selling the liability to the public at $135 a share,” SAIN said in a statement.
The group added, “SpaceX shareholders are on the hook for every Grok lawsuit, criminal investigation, and regulatory fine that is coming.”
“While this inflatable is a fitting metaphor — much like Musk and his companies, it is inflated, full of hot air, and could pop at any minute — it serves as a warning to investors eager to buy into Musk’s SpaceX IPO on Friday morning,” the statement continued.
Other messages on the inflatable draw attention
The inflatable also featured a tattoo on its bicep showing a heart and the word “ketamine.” Musk said in 2024 that he takes a small amount of ketamine “every other week” to help with mental states “like depression.”
The Times Square display was not the first large-scale protest targeting Musk. In 2025, a giant sculpture of the billionaire was seen being towed through several US national parks following controversy surrounding government spending cuts linked to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative associated with Musk.