SpaceX stars in the biggest stock market launch in history
Elon Musk becomes the world's first billionaire thanks to the rise in the stock of the rocket company
WashingtonThe biggest stock market IPO in history that makes Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire. SpaceX, the tech magnate's space rocket and artificial intelligence company, made its stock market debut this Friday, breaking all records by having already placed over 555 million shares at $135 per share, which experienced a significant surge during the session. Thus, it will raise over $75 billion and bring the valuation to over $1.77 trillion (1.77 trillion, in English, equivalent to 1.5 trillion euros).
With this valuation, SpaceX takes the crown for the biggest IPO in history from Saudi Aramco, the Saudi oil company that debuted on the markets in 2019 with a valuation of 1.7 trillion. And Musk proves that, beyond his relationship with the US president and his controversial role in cutting public spending, the business world continues to trust him and his abilities to continue making money through his companies.
The tech magnate, who also manages the electric car manufacturer Tesla and a handful of other startups, has revolutionized the space race since founding SpaceX, a rocket company that is partially reusable, and with Starlink, a satellite internet service. This year, SpaceX acquired xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company, the one behind Grok, the digital assistant for X, the social network formerly known as Twitter.
The now billionaire becomes the world's first trillionaire thanks to the surge in SpaceX shares, which far exceed the price of $135 per share from the IPO. Musk, today, owns almost 50% of the company, meaning his shares will be worth around a trillion dollars. Some analysts have estimated that the price will be around $190, and others that it will be closer to $230, which would represent 40% and 70% more than the initial price.
“It’s hard to believe that the small company I started in a warehouse in El Segundo will now go public,” Musk told his employees from Starbase, the company’s headquarters, in Texas. “I think there are always problems on Earth, things we’d like to be better, that we’d like to solve here, but there must also be things that excite you about the future, that make you happy to get up in the morning because you can’t wait to see what happens. This is the future that SpaceX wants to bring you,” the magnate affirmed as the company’s executives rang the bell at the Nasdaq index building, in Times Square, New York.
More departures
SpaceX's IPO will be followed by those of other artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI or Anthropic, which this month presented their projects to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Both are valued at close to one trillion dollars. It is expected that, together, the three IPOs will place stocks worth hundreds of billions of dollars, demonstrating interest in artificial intelligence, despite warnings from regulators and analysts about the risk of a bubble.
In addition to Musk, thousands of SpaceX employees and former employees could see their wealth grow to become millionaires with the company's IPO. People who started working at SpaceX at a very young age have been acquiring company stock over the years. For example, a graduate who arrived as an intern at SpaceX in 2011 could now own 100,000 company shares, which were already worth $13.5 million at the debut.
However, it is complicated to calculate how much money Musk and his employees will make from this move. This has to do with the fact that on the day of the IPO, only a few shares (5% of its total capital) begin to trade and there are many investors willing to buy, which drives the price up. But as more shares become available for purchase, the price will likely fall, and it will take time to stabilize to reach its "real" value.
What does seem easier to predict is that SpaceX will continue to play an important role in the space race. In March, the company completed the most successful test to date of its giant Starship rocket, the largest ever built, which survived launching and re-entering Earth's atmosphere, before exploding. Now, NASA is planning to use Starship as a lander to take its astronauts to the surface of the Moon.