Elon Musk’s net worth surged to over $1 trillion on Friday as SpaceX made its historic public market debut. The initial public offering, the largest ever, was priced at $135 per share and opened at $150 on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX. By the close, shares were trading at approximately $159, up 18%, giving the company a market capitalisation of over $2 trillion.
Musk’s combined stakes in SpaceX and Tesla propelled him to become the world’s first trillionaire, according to Forbes. The Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list estimated his net worth at $1.2 trillion, far ahead of rivals Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, however, still had Musk at $971 billion as of the previous day.
The IPO raised approximately $75 billion by selling about 555 million shares, representing around 4% of the company. SpaceX intends to use the proceeds to fund growth, including expansion of AI compute infrastructure, launch infrastructure, and satellite capacity. The company, founded by Musk in 2002, has completed 650 orbital launches as of March and aims to make rocket launches as routine as air travel.
SpaceX’s assets include Starlink, its profitable satellite internet business, as well as social media platform X and AI startup xAI. In its prospectus, SpaceX outlined its mission to make life multiplanetary and extend consciousness to the stars. The filing described X as a real-time information and free speech platform.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders criticised Musk’s wealth on X, noting that a trillionaire pays the same Social Security tax as someone earning $184,500. He called for lifting the cap on taxable income to secure the retirement fund, which a government report warned could run out by 2032.
