Elon Musk is on track to become the world's first trillionaire following SpaceX's historic stock market debut. The aerospace company raised $75 billion (£56 billion) ahead of its record-breaking $1.8 trillion (£1.3 trillion) initial public offering (IPO) on the US stock market.
Biggest Flotation in History
The move marks the largest flotation in history and could cement Musk's position as the richest person on Earth. Already a billionaire through his stakes in Tesla and X (formerly Twitter), Musk is set to become a paper trillionaire once SpaceX begins trading.
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), SpaceX confirmed an IPO price of $135 (£100.65) per share, with 555.6 million shares being sold. This values the company at approximately $1.77 trillion (£1.3 trillion) when trading commenced, making it the biggest IPO of all time.
Market Volatility Concerns
However, the value of SpaceX shares could fluctuate once publicly traded on the Nasdaq. There are concerns that the firm, which is still operating at a loss, may be overvalued amid a frenzy of tech IPOs. AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic have also announced plans to go public in recent weeks, as the race to list intensifies.
UK Retail Investor Demand
In the UK, 2.7 million shares worth $364 million (£271 million) were pre-allocated to British retail investors, according to the firm handling UK subscriptions. Total demand from UK retail investors reached nearly $1 billion (£740 million), while global demand from smaller investors reportedly exceeded $100 billion (£74.5 billion), leaving many orders unfulfilled.
Nearly two-thirds (61%) of British retail investors received full allocations for shares up to $2,700 (£2,013) in value, while those applying for more saw scaled-back allocations, with a maximum of 1,000 shares per investor.
SpaceX's Future Plans
The blockbuster equity raise will help SpaceX launch 100,000 next-generation Starlink satellites into orbit as part of its ambition to deploy AI data centres in space. However, there are fears that the overall float has been at least four times oversubscribed.
Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at the Wealth Club, commented: "Elon Musk likes to make a splash in everything he does, but he may not soak the markets in rocket fuel this time around, with more scepticism surfacing about the reality of his long-term ambitions. Retail investors, who will make up 30% of buyers, are buying into his big dreams of space domination despite the risks surrounding his vision."
Streeter added: "SpaceX's ambitions are stratospheric and potentially transformative, but they are also highly capital-intensive and dependent on technological breakthroughs and regulatory approvals. The coming weeks and months are likely to see volatility hit the stock, which often happens post-listing—and is highly likely given the mega valuation."
