Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, is aiming to raise $1.7 billion in additional capital as the controversy surrounding his former girlfriend Amber Heard and the defamation trial of Johnny Depp enters its last week.
The space travel pioneer will be paid $70 per share, according to CNBC, citing a company-wide email acquired by the network. This is a 25% increase above the $56 per share the stock sold for in February after a stock split.
That would value the 20-year-old corporation at $127 billion, making it the first private enterprise to take astronauts into space, among many other firsts.
This valuation has steadily risen in recent years as SpaceX has raised billions of dollars to fund work on its next-generation Starship rocket and Starlink global satellite internet network.
Meanwhile, the independent online publication Insider reported this week that SpaceX had paid $250,000 to settle an allegation of sexual misconduct by Musk against a SpaceX corporate jet attendant.
Musk, 50, has denied the charge, writing on Twitter on Thursday, “for the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue.”
Elon Musk was allegedly dating Amber Heard at the time he harassed the SpaceX employee.
To read our blog on “Despite concerns about Twitter’s ‘distraction,’ Elon Musk claims “Tesla is on my mind 24/7,”” click here.
