SpaceX IPO materials blocked in China and Hong Kong, Reuters finds

SpaceX’s run-up to what could become the world’s largest initial public offering hit an immediate geopolitical obstacle: its website and IPO marketing materials were not accessible to users in mainland China or Hong Kong as the company began roadshow marketing in New York.

The timing sharpened the symbolism. On June 4, SpaceX started pitching investors; by June 5, the offering materials were visible across much of Asia but not in China or Hong Kong. An access attempt returned Error 1009, a Cloudflare message that is generally associated with a site owner blocking traffic by country or region. That made the barrier look less like a random outage and more like a deliberate restriction.

The blackout matters because investors in Hong Kong and China often use offering documents to judge a company’s financials, risk factors and growth plans before committing capital. SpaceX is targeting the sale of 555.6 million shares at $135 apiece, a structure that would raise about $75 billion and value the company at roughly $1.75 trillion to $1.76 trillion. If completed, the deal would rank among the largest IPOs ever and put Elon Musk’s company among the most valuable U.S.-listed firms from day one.

The problem is not only technical. Underwriters have reportedly been told not to accept orders from investors in Hong Kong and China, with U.S. restrictions on the export of critical technology cited as the reason. Lead banks have pointed to International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR, as the main constraint. That would make the apparent website block part of a broader compliance wall around a company that sits at the intersection of rockets, satellites, telecom, defense and artificial intelligence.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and the lead banks also declined to comment. The company is expected to list on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, with a possible debut as early as June 12.

For markets, the episode is revealing. A blockbuster U.S. listing that depends on global attention is already running into the limits of that global reach. If China and Hong Kong investors are effectively shut out, SpaceX’s offering will stand as more than a capital-raising event: it will be another marker of how export controls, national-security rules and financial decoupling are reshaping the world’s biggest technology deals.