SpaceX Employees Join Forces to Negotiate Lower Fees and Seek Tax-Efficient Tools in Preparation for IPO

More than 1,000 current and former SpaceX employees have joined forces to collectively pressure wealth management firms for lower fees and more sophisticated tax-avoidance tools, preparing for the wealth creation wave anticipated from SpaceX's upcoming public listing.

According to Bloomberg, the group is negotiating with more than 20 wealth management firms and private banks, aiming to reduce asset management fees to below 0.5%, significantly lower than the industry standard of 1%. Organizers characterize this as leveraging "collective bargaining power" in exchange for "substantially reduced advisory fees."

The timing of this initiative aligns closely with SpaceX's IPO plans. SpaceX aims to go public as early as this month, targeting a fundraising scale of up to $75 billion, with a potential valuation of at least $1.8 trillion, which would make it the largest IPO in history. As this wealth-creation event approaches, employees are accelerating their collective efforts regarding wealth management.

This collective bargaining model is poised to reshape how employees at startups manage IPO-related wealth, potentially serving as a reference template for employees at companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Group of Over 1,000, with Assets Valued at $20 Billion

According to insiders, the group operates within a private Slack channel and is organized by a former SpaceX engineer.

Emails sent to wealth advisors earlier this year indicated that the group already comprised over 200 members, representing wealth of at least $2 billion. Insiders stated that the group has since expanded significantly, with the assets it represents now valued at up to $20 billion.

Most of the negotiations are led by Aisha Ayoub, a former SpaceX engineer. The counterparties include major banks such as Morgan Stanley, as well as registered investment advisory firms like Creative Planning and Corient.

In selecting partners, the group explicitly excluded advisors affiliated with broker-dealers—citing their "complex cost structures"—as well as robo-advisory platforms, deeming them "unsuitable for addressing complex needs such as liquidity, tax planning, and concentrated position management."

Priority on Tax-Avoidance Tools, with Complex Financial Strategies as Core Demand

The employees are seeking far more than just low fees. Documents show they are focusing on complex strategies such as securities-based lending and direct indexing, aligning with the approach used by hedge funds and family offices to defer capital gains taxes.

Specific instruments under consideration include Variable Prepaid Forward Contracts (VPFCs)—a loan-like structure that allows shareholders to borrow cash against their shares, thereby monetizing holdings without triggering taxable sale events.

Additionally, options strategies such as "collars" and "box spreads" are being evaluated. When combined, these can serve as synthetic alternatives to VPFCs, providing access to cash while limiting downside risk.

Diversification is also a key topic for the group. Direct indexing strategies allow employees to hold individual constituent stocks of an index directly, rather than through bundled ETFs. This approach helps avoid further concentrated exposure to SpaceX while enabling the harvesting of tax losses on individual stocks.

These demands reflect a common challenge faced by SpaceX employees: high concentration of holdings in a single company's equity, with most options and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) scheduled to vest in tranches following the IPO.

Wealth Creation Template Potentially Extending to OpenAI and Anthropic

Wealth management industry professionals believe that the collective bargaining practice employed by SpaceX employees is highly replicable, especially given that OpenAI and Anthropic are also preparing for public listings, making this model particularly significant as a precedent.

Brian Werner, Chief Investment Officer at Winthrop Partners, stated:

"What is truly interesting here is not that employees are seeking financial advice, but that they recognize their collective purchasing power and are using it to gain access to professional services. I would not be at all surprised to see similar arrangements adopted by employee groups at high-growth private companies."

Dominic Corabi, Co-founder of Wedmont Private Capital, shared a similar view:

"Uniting as a group to negotiate from a position of strength will undoubtedly become mainstream practice. They will secure better terms and pricing from custodians and product providers."

This wave of collective bargaining coincides almost simultaneously with reports that SpaceX executives are pushing to reduce IPO underwriting fees charged by banks, reflecting the company's consistent tough negotiating style on costs across all levels.