SpaceX Employees Form New Low-Fee Advisory Group with Choreo

A group of current and former SpaceX employees who joined forces to manage their post-IPO wealth has created a new, low-fee advisory option with Choreo, according to people familiar with the agreement.

The employee group has more than 100 members and represents potential wealth of between $1 billion and $5 billion, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agreements. What began as an informal chat forum focused on philanthropy has grown into a broader effort to create more efficiencies and better access to financial advice using their combined wealth from their post-initial public offering windfalls, the people told CNBC.

A small team representing the group evaluated potential firms and created a new wealth management offering with Choreo that members can opt into. Choreo, a Chicago-based registered investment advisor, says on its website it has more than $28 billion in assets under management and advisement, 40-plus offices, and 200 wealth advisors.

Details and specific terms remain confidential, yet the sources told CNBC there will be a minimum annual fee or an annual management fee of under 0.5% of assets under management. Any fee below 0.5% could undercut the industry standard of between 0.5% and 1%. The Choreo fee structure is for a long-term agreement rather than a one-time promotional offer.

Choreo didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The deal marks a bold experiment in the wealth management industry that could shift the balance of power from advisory firms to wealthy groups of investors.

Wealth management firms have typically set their fees based on an individual's or family's wealth levels, offering a sliding scale based on investible assets. By joining forces, the SpaceX employees and alumni employees are proving they can use their collective financial scale to secure an option for better terms.

The agreement also highlights the unprecedented power of the SpaceX IPO — establishing vast numbers of newly minted millionaires who were paid in stock as well as creating one of the most sought-after liquidity prizes in the wealth management industry.

The Elon Musk-led rocket company is set to debut at the Nasdaq on Friday.

The vast majority of SpaceX employees – many of them engineers who were paid below-market salaries in return for stock – have never had large wealth to manage.

By reducing fees, members of the SpaceX group hope to be able to devote more of their fortunes from the SpaceX IPO to philanthropy, the people said.

In the forum, many of the SpaceXers have been sharing advice and contacts on how best to use their new wealth to give back to their communities, the people familiar said. Some indicated they are considering creating scholarships and funding for the colleges and universities where they were trained and educated. Others have said they want to fund new programs that give children better access to engineering, science and math programs.

Employees of Anthropic, which recently filed confidential plans to go public, are also in discussions with advisory firms about a potential collective option, the people familiar told CNBC.