Mr Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is now a trillionaire as his SpaceX rose 11 per cent in its Nasdaq debut on Friday, lifting its valuation to about $1.96 trillion as investors piled into the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO).
The stock opened for trading at $150 compared with the IPO price of $135 per share.
The landmark listing cemented Mr Musk’s status as the first trillionaire ever and propelled SpaceX into the ranks of the world’s most valuable companies
The listing is being used as a benchmark of what is to come for the market ahead of forthcoming IPOs for AI heavyweights Anthropic and OpenAI.
The record IPO is a culmination of Mr Musk’s long-held ambitions in space and technology.
Most of Musk’s wealth now rests with SpaceX, where he holds a stake worth roughly $866 billion. Along with Tesla and the rest of his properties, his net worth will exceed $1.1 trillion when the stock begins trading on Friday.
At a quoted $75 billion, the deal’s proceeds were more than double those of Saudi Aramco’s record-setting 2019 IPO.
The valuation could rise further should underwriters exercise their right to sell additional shares, a decision typically made within 30 days after the offering.
Although SpaceX may have to wait for entry into the S&P 500, its expected fast-track inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 will soon make it a major holding for passive funds and ETFs that track the index, creating a fresh source of demand for its shares.
It will take about a month before it gets added to that index under Nasdaq’s new fast-entry rules, as opposed to a typical wait of as much as a year.
SpaceX said its market opportunity spans $28.5 trillion, a figure it called the largest in human history.
Mr Musk, 54, was born in Pretoria, South Africa, to a Canadian mother and South African father. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1997.
He took over as Tesla’s CEO in 2008. Beyond Tesla and SpaceX, Mr Musk has co-founded five other companies, including tunnelling startup The Boring Company and brain implant maker Neuralink.
