S&P 500 denies SpaceX accelerated entry, also blocking OpenAI and Anthropic

S&P Dow Jones Indices announced on June 4 that it will not change eligibility criteria for the S&P 500, rejecting SpaceX's request for expedited entry. The space and AI company sought waivers on the standard 12-month seasoning period, profitability requirements, and the 10% minimum public float (IWF). SpaceX planned to offer only about 3% of shares in its IPO and is currently unprofitable with $29B in debt from AI infrastructure spending. The decision also prevents AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic from gaining similar accelerated access after their own expected IPOs.

Had the rule changes been approved, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated $14 billion in passive fund buying would have flowed into SpaceX, with over $8 billion for OpenAI and $4.6 billion for Anthropic, given $7.5 trillion in passively managed funds tracking the S&P 500. However, the S&P Dow Jones Indices did create a carve-out for lower-profile benchmarks like the S&P Total Market Index, allowing faster entry there. The Nasdaq and FTSE Russell have already granted SpaceX accelerated entry into their indexes. Morningstar recently valued SpaceX at $780 billion—less than half its $1.75 trillion IPO target—calling it 'significantly overvalued.'