Elon Musk Becomes World’s First Trillionaire As SpaceX Shares Soar On Historic IPO

Juliet Oladele, Reporting 

ELON Musk has officially become the world’s first trillionaire after shares in his rocket company SpaceX jumped 11 per cent on their first day of trading, in what stands as the biggest initial public offering in history.

The blockbuster float, which raised more than $75 billion (£59 billion), saw shares priced at $135 each before climbing to $150 on the Nasdaq exchange in New York. The surge lifted SpaceX’s market value to approximately $2 trillion (£1.6 trillion), placing it among the ten most valuable US companies – ahead of Tesla, Facebook-owner Meta and Walmart.

Speaking at a launch event in Starbase, Texas, surrounded by staff, the polarising entrepreneur vowed to take humanity to Mars.

“SpaceX wants to be able to take you to the moon, take you to Mars, and ultimately beyond,” Musk said. “I’m confident at this point that with the incredible team that we have here at SpaceX, that we will do that for you.”

The company, co-founded by Musk in 2002, has since expanded into a major satellite operator and has folded in his artificial intelligence firm xAI – which includes the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. Trading under the ticker symbol SPCX, the conglomerate is now being closely watched by Wall Street.

The IPO comes just over a year after Musk left President Donald Trump’s administration, following a months-long stint leading the highly contentious “DOGE” effort to slash government spending. His backing of Trump and right-wing populists across Europe, alongside a long list of incendiary comments on X, has seen the entrepreneur transform from a widely admired prodigy into a deeply divisive figure.

Nevertheless, the record float is a testament to Musk’s continued support among investors, with reports suggesting the offering was more than four times oversubscribed. Demand among retail investors – for whom 20 per cent of shares were reserved – was also reportedly high.

The IPO is expected to mint thousands of new millionaires and several billionaires, with former and current employees, along with a long list of investors from the company’s near quarter-century history, looking to cash in.

However, the company’s finances are giving some on Wall Street pause. The valuation largely depends on Musk delivering on promises worthy of science fiction, including putting data centres in space and humans on Mars using as-yet unproven technology. While SpaceX is growing quickly – revenue hit $18.7 billion in 2025 – it is also losing money, producing a net loss of $4.9 billion, mainly on spending to build AI capacity.

In an extraordinary prediction, SpaceX’s filing claims it can pull in more than $28.5 trillion in revenue from its various markets.

The milestone makes Musk by far the world’s richest person, his fortune now dwarfing that of any other billionaire.