More people than usual are talking about the SpaceX IPO, because of its eye-watering valuations and the Elon Musk connection. Matt Stucky, Chief Portfolio Manager at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, says he has "never been asked more about an IPO" by clients and advisers.

Wall Street had a field day with the deal. The banks underwriting the IPO took home about $500 million in fees, despite settling on just 0.7% of the proceeds. That fee pool alone was about the same size as Goldman Sachs' equity underwriting revenue for the first quarter.

No wonder Goldman fought hard for the mandate. CEO David Solomon had apparently slid into Elon’s DMs on X around May, to discuss the SpaceX listing. Back in 2007, Solomon had won the Lululemon IPO deal by showing up to the pitch meeting dressed top to toe in Lululemon gear.

After a prolonged dry spell in the IPO market, this mega-listing has given bankers a win. IPO activity has been subdued since the 2021 boom; higher interest rates and economic uncertainty have kept many acquisitions and fundraising plans on hold.

But 2026 is already buzzing. Global M&A volumes have crossed $2.6 trillion this year. Companies are growing more confident about making long-term investments. Goldman Sachs investment banking co-head Matt McClure says that "CEOs and boards are taking a long-term strategic view" despite the uncertain macro environment.

The IPO market is reopening, led by AI

SpaceX has dominated the headlines, but bankers are also looking at the next wave of companies preparing to go public.

OpenAI and Anthropic have confidentially filed for IPOs, while several other AI companies are exploring public listings. Together, the known AI pipeline could raise more than $150 billion. That is roughly five times the amount typically raised through US IPOs in a normal post-pandemic year.

Wall Street is seeing dollar signs beyond just IPO fees. The companies preparing to list are among the biggest spenders in technology. OpenAI has said it expects to spend about $600 billion on AI infrastructure by 2030, while AI companies across the industry are raising money for chips, data centres and acquisitions. Funding ambitions of this scale can create years of dealmaking opportunities for investment banks across the AI ecosystem. 

Established tech players are also ramping up spending on AI infrastructure. Since 2025, firms like Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle have already raised over $270 billion by selling investment-grade bonds.

Nvidia recently joined the AI fundraising wave, returning to the bond market for the first time since 2021 with a $25 billion offering. Investors have absorbed similar debt sales from technology giants, giving banks more opportunities to earn fees from bond offerings.

M&A activity spreads beyond AI

Bankers have spent the last few years talking about a recovery in dealmaking. But rising borrowing costs, market volatility and cautious corporate boards delayed that comeback.

The difference this year is that more deals are actually getting done. Global M&A deal values rose 27% in early 2026 and reached their highest level in five years. Technology remains a major driver, but activity is also picking up across healthcare, consumer businesses and industrial companies.

One deal drawing particular attention is the proposed buyout of Electronic Arts. JPMorgan is arranging roughly $20 billion in debt financing to help fund the acquisition. When a single transaction requires that much capital, the fee pool becomes huge for the banks involved.

The recovery is starting to extend beyond the largest and most closely watched deals. Recently, Evercore CEO John Weinberg stated that deal activity is broadening into the middle market.

Investors have become more willing to back new deals, but they haven't stopped scrutinizing them. Alex Robb of Ropes & Gray said there remains "robust appetite for new debt deals", though companies with weaker finances are still finding it harder to attract investors.

That became clear earlier this year in a financing deal linked to fantasy sports company PrizePicks. Banks expected investors to buy most of the debt tied to the transaction. But interest for the debt package came in below expectations, forcing the banks to hold a larger share of the debt themselves.

The house always wins

JPMorgan generated $2.9 billion in investment banking fees during the first quarter, up 32% from a year earlier. Goldman Sachs reported an even larger increase, with investment banking fees rising 48% to $2.8 billion.

Thanks to rising deal activity, shares of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup have surged over 20% since the start of the year. Citigroup also outperformed its peers after President Donald Trump lauded the bank and its CEO, Jane Fraser, in a recent Truth Social post. This comes after a weak performance in its investment banking division over the past few quarters. However, Citigroup CFO Gonzalo Luchetti expects revenue from the investment banking business to grow in the mid-teens in Q2.

Goldman Sachs helped lead SpaceX's IPO, advised Dominion Energy on its $66.8 billion sale to NextEra Energy, and worked on more than $1 trillion worth of announced M&A transactions this year. JPMorgan remains one of the busiest players in the market, helping finance some of the largest buyouts currently under discussion.

The SpaceX deal offers a glimpse of why these mandates matter so much. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley each walked away with roughly $100 million in fees, while Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase earned about $75 million each.

As long as companies keep raising capital, pursuing acquisitions and coming to market, the flow of fees continues. For investors, the larger question is whether the stock will perform after the deal is done.

Analysts at JPMorgan recommend buying Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley ahead of Q2 results next month. They argue that “markets may be underestimating how much recent IPOs, financing activity and trading volumes could boost their results.” The bankers are right now, making bank.