SpaceX’s CFO Is the Quiet VIP of a Wild IPO

Over the last few months, SpaceX’s chief financial officer, Bret Johnsen, has been trying to pull off an intense two-part challenge: Fold xAI into SpaceX—the biggest merger ever—and then take the combined company public at $75 billion in the largest IPO ever.

Johnsen, 57, has gotten it done by keeping his customary cool. Inside SpaceX, colleagues say he’s less prone to getting worked up than other executives like CEO Elon Musk and President Gwynne Shotwell, and compared to those colleagues, he is less apt to drop an f-bomb. At the same time, Johnsen manages to stay loyal to Musk while knowing how to make his bosses’ impulses and visions presentable—and palatable—to investors, colleagues say.

“You wouldn’t want a cowboy hat–wearing sort of person to be your CFO when you already have that in Elon and Gwynne,” said a former SpaceX executive who has worked with Johnsen. “It makes you feel better about the company knowing that one of the officers is focused on steering the ship and isn’t saying, ‘Hey, this week we’re going to Mars! Next week we’re doing something completely different!’”