FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 5, 2026
CONTACT: Jarice Thompson, jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org
S&P Holds the Line, SpaceX and Other Mega IPOs Will Not Be Fast-Tracked into the S&P 500
Washington, D.C. — Last night, S&P announced that it will not be changing its rules in ways that would have allowed SpaceX and other large, recently-public companies to be fast-tracked into the S&P 500 and other major indexes. The proposed changes would have created special rules for large companies, eliminating the requirements that they be financially viable and have a certain percentage of shares publicly available for trading and reducing the period between going public and eligibility for index inclusion from 12 to six months.
“This is a victory for workers saving for retirement,” said Natalia Renta, associate director of corporate governance and power at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. “Millions of retirees, workers, and their families place their hard-earned money in index funds that track the S&P 500 to secure a dignified retirement and meet other financial goals. Fast-tracking inclusion of large, unprofitable companies like SpaceX and other AI companies expected to go public this year would have jeopardized the investments of millions of S&P 500 index fund investors.”
Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund and the AFL-CIO wrote to the S&P in strong opposition to the proposed changes.
The Nasdaq-100, FTSE Russell, and CRSP have all recently changed their rules to allow large, newly-public companies to be fast-tracked into major indexes. SpaceX’s listing is imminent, Anthropic recently filed its IPO paperwork confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and OpenAI is expected to do so in the coming months.
“These changes bring to the forefront just how much power index providers — a largely unregulated industry — wield over our capital markets and retirement security, resurfacing questions about how they should be regulated,” said Renta. “While policymakers tackle these important questions, fiduciaries should reassess the appropriateness of index fund investments for retirement savers, as fast-tracking creates the conditions for early investors to cash out at arguably inflated share prices while leaving regular investors, including workers saving for retirement, holding the bag.”
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