Elon Musk has become the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX floated on the Nasdaq in New York on Friday, with shares opening at $150 (£111) and valuing the spaceflight firm at $2tn (£1.5tn). The record-breaking debut saw shares jump 11% above their initial public offering price, though the increase was softer than early indications of up to 29%.
Musk, who already owns Tesla and X, saw his stake in SpaceX climb to around $765bn (£570bn). Speaking from Starbase in Texas, he called the IPO “hard to believe” and promised to take humanity “to Mars and ultimately beyond”. The float raised $75bn (£56bn), making it the largest IPO ever, eclipsing Saudi Aramco’s 2019 listing.
A notable 20-25% of shares were allocated to smaller retail investors. In the UK, 2.7 million shares worth $364m (£271m) were pre-allocated, with total UK retail demand reaching nearly $1bn (£740m). Nearly two-thirds of British retail investors received full allocations, with those applying for up to $2,700 (£2,013) getting their full order.
The funds will help SpaceX launch 100,000 next-generation Starlink satellites and deploy AI data centres in space, while its core business remains the reusable Starship rocket. The IPO prospectus identified AI products for businesses as the firm’s biggest potential market, though the path to profitability for its xAI division—merged with SpaceX earlier this year—remains uncertain.
