Musk First Trillionaire After SpaceX Jumps 19% on Debut
SpaceX shares closed their first Nasdaq trading day up about 19 percent, above the IPO price, lifting Elon Musk's net worth past one trillion dollars for the first time.
- SpaceX stock (ticker SPCX) closed its first trading day on June 12 up about 19%, at roughly 161 dollars, above the IPO price of 135 dollars.
- The offering raised a record of about 75 billion dollars, the largest IPO on record.
- Musk's net worth reached about 1.14 trillion dollars, crossing the one trillion mark for the first time.
SpaceX stock, trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX, closed its first day on June 12 up about 19 percent, at roughly 161 dollars, above the IPO price of 135 dollars set a day earlier. The debut pushed Elon Musk’s net worth past the one trillion dollar mark and made him the world’s first trillionaire.
The share price briefly spiked more than 30 percent above the IPO level during the session before settling at the close. At that level, the company’s implied value was estimated at around 1,800 billion dollars (about 1.8 trillion). In the offering itself, SpaceX sold more than 555 million shares and raised about 75 billion dollars, the largest initial public offering recorded on the US market to date.
How much is Musk’s stake worth after the debut?
Musk’s stake in SpaceX was valued at around 690 billion dollars at the first day’s closing price. Combined with his holding in Tesla and other positions, that figure lifted his total net worth to about 1.14 trillion dollars. For the first time in history, a single person crossed one trillion dollars in assessed wealth.
The scale of the jump shows in a comparison with the rest of the rich list. At the closing price, Musk is worth more than the next five richest people in the world combined. Most of that gap was opened by SpaceX itself, whose value had until Friday been tied solely to private funding rounds and was now confirmed on the open market for the first time.
Two things that are easily confused on days like this should be kept apart. The 19 percent gain is a market valuation, not cash paid into the company: SpaceX raised the roughly 75 billion dollars at the IPO price of 135 dollars, while the rise above that price benefits existing shareholders and investors who bought in on Friday. Musk’s wealth is on paper, tied to the share price, and will move with each trading day.
What does the debut mean going forward?
The IPO was priced on Thursday, June 11, and trading began on Friday, June 12. The speed with which the offering was absorbed, alongside the record size, signals that appetite for exposure to the space sector on the US market is considerably greater than private valuations had so far suggested. For SpaceX, that means access to public capital for capital intensive programs, from Starship to its satellite network.
The open question is how much of the first day reflects real value and how much is debut euphoria. An implied valuation of about 1.8 trillion dollars sets a high bar for a company whose earnings depend on long term programs rather than on current operations at the level of the tech giants. The coming weeks of trading will show how firmly the market holds those numbers.
Will SpaceX hold a valuation above one trillion dollars once the debut euphoria fades, or will the price drift back toward the IPO level?
