Jamie Dimon praises Elon Musk as SpaceX’s $75B IPO road show ramps up

Jamie Dimon did something that would have sounded like fiction a few years ago: he publicly praised Elon Musk as JPMorgan hosted SpaceX’s $75 billion IPO road show, including an in-person guest spot from Maye Musk at the bank’s Manhattan headquarters. During a virtual interview Thursday, Dimon called Musk “the Edison of our time.” He framed it as “an extraordinary 24 years watching Elon grow over time,” and then “making a massive leap into the future,” as thousands of JPMorgan’s high-net-worth clients listened in.

This isn’t just celebrity-style banter around rockets. SpaceX is targeting a price of $135 per share when the company goes public, which could happen as early as next week, and that pricing could raise a record-setting $75 billion. A successful IPO could also potentially turn Musk into the world’s very first trillionaire, and it would almost certainly be a win for the many banks lining up to sell the story to investors.

The scene mattered for optics because JPMorgan and Musk have history. The source notes a well-publicized feud, including a $162 million lawsuit filed by JPMorgan against Tesla in 2021 over an alleged contract breach regarding stock warrants. The bank dropped its lawsuit last year. That tension makes Dimon’s language feel especially sharp in hindsight. But the shift didn’t appear out of nowhere. The source says Dimon started putting on a charm offensive as early as the World Economic Forum meeting in January, well before SpaceX’s IPO became “a reality.” At Davos, he told CNBC, “The guy is our Einstein,” and added, “I’d like to be helpful to him and his companies as much as we can,” implying the disagreement had been patched up.

At the road show, the warm tone escalated. The interview opened with an in-person appearance by Maye Musk, who similarly lavished praise on her son. She recalled being told about his genius when he was 3, the moment when she rolled her eyes at his idea to start with rockets, and the outcome: “And then, you did it.” That’s one kind of investor narrative. Another kind is the one Dimon delivered: framing Musk as a long-running builder who is now crossing from one phase to another, “making a massive leap into the future.” If you’re an investor, the point is not whether you like the personality. It’s whether you believe the trajectory supports the valuation a record-setting IPO would require.

Under the hood, this is also how big-ticket IPOs get sold. The source explains that SpaceX has tapped elite Wall Street names to underwrite, publicize, and advise. Reportedly, SpaceX worked with at least 21 banks in preparation, including heavyweights such as JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America. Over recent months, these institutions have pitched investors, distributed shares ahead of the public listing date, and created buzz for the company and its mission. This week’s road show is the pre-listing window where final pitches happen and the marketing machine hits high gear through a mix of meetings and high-profile media appearances.

And while the pitch is bullish, it’s happening in a world where fees and leverage can get combative. The source says SpaceX reportedly played hardball in negotiating its fees with banks, yet the consortium is still on track to rake in $500 million from the offering. That mismatch is the kind of detail executives watch: even when the issuer negotiates aggressively, deal economics can still work out handsomely for banks. It also helps explain why multiple institutions are turning the volume up. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have redecorated their headquarters lobbies with SpaceX branding. Bank of America has organized launch parties more associated with Hollywood, and it lit up the spire of its Manhattan skyscraper to resemble a rocket takeoff. Several banks circulated notes and research forecasting massive revenue for SpaceX, including a Morgan Stanley note forecasting $3.4 trillion in revenue in 2040.

For decision-makers at other financial institutions, the stakes are bigger than one rocket. IPOs often come in clusters when investor appetite is hot, and the source points out that JPMorgan’s incentives are aligned with a longer calendar. Institutions including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are preparing to pitch highly anticipated IPOs for OpenAI and Anthropic later this year. In that context, SpaceX looks like both a test case and a warm-up act for what could be a lucrative second half of 2026, if sentiment holds.

There’s also a subtle reputational layer. Musk, described as having a demanding leadership style and divisive politics, sought to soften his image during the Dimon interview. “I think I’m probably more chill than I used to be,” he said, contrasting his current demeanor with past stunts like taking a “chainsaw for bureaucracy” to the stage at CPAC just a year ago, while saying he’s “not that laid-back, but more than I used to be.” That kind of message matters on road show days because investor confidence is not only about numbers. It’s about perceived execution risk.

So what does all of this mean for executives tracking markets? It means a major incumbent bank is signaling reconciliation and enthusiasm at the moment a potentially historic listing is about to price. With SpaceX targeting $135 per share and potentially raising $75 billion, this isn’t just a headline. It’s a live demonstration of how quickly capital markets can pivot, how investment banks translate narratives into demand, and how today’s rocket company IPO can influence tomorrow’s deal pipeline across Wall Street.