Elon Musk becomes world’s first trillionaire as SpaceX shares begin trading in biggest IPO ever
Shares of SpaceX opened at $150 each on their first day of trading in the company’s landmark initial public offering – making founder Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.💰😁💎
Shares of the rocket company opened up 11% from their IPO price of $135, giving the company a market capitalization of roughly $1.96 trillion. Shares began trading just after 11:47 a.m. Friday on the Nasdaq Composite Index under the ticket “SPCX.”
In the minutes following the debut, the shares quickly escalated to the $160 mark, raising the company’s market cap to $2.1 trillion, instantly making it one of the world’s most valuable companies.
The stock opened at $150 per share Friday.John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock
In the minutes following the debut, the shares quickly escalated to the $160 mark, raising the company’s market cap to $2.1 trillion and instantly making SpaceX the sixth most valuable company in the world.
By mid-afternoon, shares of SpaceX – which operates rocket, satellite internet and artificial-intelligence businesses – had reached nearly $173, placing the company’s valuation at a staggering $2.3 trillion.
The listing cements Musk’s position as the wealthiest individual in modern history – pushing the tech mogul’s net worth above $1 trillion. After the IPO, Musk will control about 82% of SpaceX, according to filings.
Elon Musk is now the world’s first trillionaire.
The tech titan marked the occasion with a ceremonial bell ringing at SpaceX’s southern Texas home, known as Starbase.
“That’s what SpaceX is all about – it’s to take the fiction out of science-fiction and create an exciting, inspiring future for everyone,” he said.
“SpaceX wants to be able to take you to the moon, take you to Mars and ultimately beyond,” Musk added, addressing the general public.
The blockbuster listing indicated solid investor appetite for a company that disclosed $4.9 billion in losses last year alone on revenue of $18.7 billion – with the gap expected to widen as Musk pursues costly moonshot goals that include a colony on Mars and building AI data centers in space.
Some 555.6 million shares of SpaceX — which owns artificial intelligence company xAI, satellite-internet business Starlink and social media platform X — were sold of the in the hotly anticipated IPO, according to a statement posted on the company’s website on Thursday afternoon.
SpaceX’s market cap is now more than 2 trillion.AFP via Getty Images
Demand exceeded the amount of shares that were available several times over, including huge interest from retail investors who submitted more than $100 billion in purchase orders, according to Bloomberg.
SpaceX’s public offering shattered the previous record set by Saudi Aramco’s IPO, which raised $29.4 billion in 2019.
“A successful SpaceX IPO is a positive signal for broader investor interest in innovation and technology,” said SuRo Capital principal Evan Schlossman. “It’s a reflection of the demand, interest, and desire to invest in these types of companies.”
SpaceX’s listing gives everyday investors the chance to buy shares of a company that has largely been off limits to the masses. Musk’s Texas-based company transformed the space industry when it figured out how to land rockets upright, which lowered the cost of launches by making rockets reusable. It has regularly launched payloads into space for NASA and flung private satellites into orbit.
The IPO is expected to play rainmaker for dozens of venture capital firms, hedge funds, family offices and companies that have invested in SpaceX since its founding in 2002. Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest and Silicon Valley stalwart firms Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz are all set for significant windfalls.
Founders Fund, for instance, invested $600 million into SpaceX for a 3% stake which ballooned in value to more than $50 billion at the IPO price of $135, according to Bloomberg.
SpaceX’s IPO is the first of several blockbuster public offerings expected this year. AI giants Anthropic and OpenAI recently filed for their own IPOs.
“SpaceX going public is an important moment for the broader tech sector in our view as this AI revolution and data takes this next step forward,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
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