S&P Rejects Fast-Track for SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic

S&P Dow Jones Indices will keep its existing eligibility requirements for benchmarks including the S&P 500, rejecting a rule change that could have let newly public megacaps like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic join the index faster.

S&P said Thursday it will not grant exceptions to its financial viability, seasoning, and investable weight factor requirements based purely on market capitalization.

The decision keeps the S&P 500's stricter framework intact even as rival index providers race to speed up inclusion for large listings. Permissioned systems being permissioned, in other words.

The ruling means SpaceX would not be eligible for S&P 500 inclusion until at least one year after listing. The company would also need to meet the benchmark's profitability and public float requirements before joining the world's most-watched stock index.

For SpaceX, the setback removes a potential wall of forced buying from funds that track the S&P 500. Fast inclusion would have generated about $14 billion in passive demand for SpaceX, more than $8 billion for OpenAI, and about $4.6 billion for Anthropic, according to Bloomberg Intelligence estimates.

The decision comes as SpaceX prepares what could become the largest IPO in history. Reuters reported the company is seeking to raise $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation, a level that would place it among the largest US-listed companies the moment it goes public.

The debate has intensified as private companies reach public-market scale before listing. SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic are expected to enter public markets with valuations that rival major public tech companies, challenging index rules designed for firms that typically spent more time trading before becoming benchmark candidates.

Supporters of fast inclusion argue that indexes should reflect the largest companies in the market as quickly as possible, especially when newly listed firms are already economically significant. Keeping them out, they say, can make benchmarks less representative of the market investors actually own.

Critics counter that the existing rules around profitability, float, and trading history exist to protect benchmarks from chasing hype. Adding newly public companies too quickly could expose passive funds to volatility and force index trackers to buy shares before reliable market pricing has been established. Solid risk management, or TradFi gatekeeping, depending on your priors.

S&P's decision diverges from Nasdaq and FTSE Russell. Nasdaq changed its rules to let qualifying IPOs enter the Nasdaq 100 after 15 trading days, while FTSE Russell adopted a fast-entry process that could let large IPOs into certain indexes after five trading days.

The S&P 500 remains the most important prize for passive flows. Bloomberg Intelligence data shows about $7.5 trillion in passive funds track the index, while another $3.4 trillion in active assets are benchmarked against it.

The decision also underscores how much market power now sits inside passive investing. US passive domestic equity mutual funds and ETFs held roughly $14.4 trillion in assets at the end of April, compared with $8.2 trillion in active funds. Slow, centralized, and deeply trusted by the world's largest pools of capital — finance, but with extra steps.