SpaceX IPO Unlocks Billions, Florida Migration Already Underway

SpaceX shares have surged more than 35% since the company's record-setting IPO last Friday on the Nasdaq. For employees holding stock options, that means billions in liquid cash. The money is not staying in California.

Florida real estate brokers are already fielding calls from tech workers at the company, according to local business leaders. OpenAI quietly filed for a confidential IPO. Anthropic is expected to list in late 2026 as well, Reuters reported. Together, the three companies could unlock tens of billions of dollars for executives and middle managers.

"There is going to be this transitional event with the IPO where executives are finally gonna see probably the biggest cash day most of them have ever seen in their lives," Joe DaGrosa, founder of DaGrosa Capital Partners, said. "Many of them are not making millions, they're making tens of millions overnight. And I think that's going to have them thinking long and hard about South Florida and Miami in particular."

DaGrosa said the move would happen "in a matter of months, not years or decades." The California area codes have already started showing up in Fort Lauderdale, Jenni Morejon, CEO of the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority, said. Morejon described the incoming wealth as active, global and productive but not performative, a contrast with Silicon Valley's culture.

The middle management layer could be the biggest surprise. "Middle managers have wealth creation that can be $25, $50, $100 million," DaGrosa pointed out. That class of buyer would push the housing market periphery, not just beachfront condos.

SpaceX's headquarters are in Hawthorne, California, not Silicon Valley. OpenAI is based in San Francisco. Anthropic is also in San Francisco. Yet the migration pattern is broader. "Who is leading those IPOs? Those that are leading the IPOs are really based in New York because those are the Wall Street guys that are running the IPOs," said Miki Naftali, CEO of Naftali Group. He expects New York financiers to join the Florida move as well.

Florida still lags in tech talent, Naftali acknowledged: "It's all about talent, right? They're all going after the talent. So what Florida is still lacking and it's gonna take time to attract the talent." As talent follows capital, the cultural fabric shifts. Morejon noted that tech jobs in Fort Lauderdale have grown 20% since 2021. The downtown economy supports $43 billion annually in economic impact.

"If you're building a company at scale, you need three things: You need access, you need talent and you need a quality of life that sustains performance," Morejon said. "And if you need a place to dock the yacht, we can handle that, too."

The IPO pipeline creates a second-order effect. The California tax base loses high-income filers. Florida gains residents who pay no state income tax. The first wave of SpaceX liquidity is already visible in brokerage accounts and real estate inquiries. The second wave from OpenAI and Anthropic is expected in late 2026.

DaGrosa compared the dynamic to the post-pandemic migration from New York to Florida. "We get that Malcolm Gladwell tipping effect, where you almost have to be in Miami because a lot of your friends and family and neighbors are moving here," he said. "I think we're going to see the same thing happen out of California."