Elon Musk Becomes World’s First Trillionaire as SpaceX Shares Soar in Record IPO

Elon Musk has become the first person in recorded history to accumulate a net worth of $1 trillion, after shares in his SpaceX rocket company soared during the biggest-ever stock market debut on Friday.

The Tesla and SpaceX founder comfortably cemented his status as the world’s richest man, with Forbes estimating his total net worth at approximately $1.1 trillion by the close of trading.

SpaceX listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol SPCX, pricing its shares at $135 each. Trading opened at $150 and briefly reached a high of $176.50, reflecting investor enthusiasm for the rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence conglomerate . The stock closed the day at about $161, giving SpaceX a market value of more than $2.1 trillion.

The initial public offering raised $75 billion from investors, easily surpassing the previous record held by Saudi Aramco’s $26 billion IPO in 2019.

Musk’s 42% ownership stake in SpaceX ended the day worth approximately $767 billion, according to Bloomberg. He also holds $168 billion in Tesla shares and additional stock options, along with smaller holdings in Neuralink and the Boring Company.

The achievement immediately sparked a heated debate about wealth inequality. Musk’s fortune is now comparable to the entire economic output of countries such as Poland or Switzerland.

Democratic US senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were among several politicians to condemn the milestone. “The world will get its first trillionaire while Americans across the country are scraping together every dollar to save for retirement,” Warren said. She argued it underlines the need for wealth taxes.

Musk, however, is a trillionaire only on paper, as his net worth is almost entirely tied to the value of his stockholdings. He is unable to sell any of his SpaceX stock for at least a year.

The 54-year-old billionaire marked the occasion at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas, surrounded by staff, many of whom became multi-millionaires through the IPO. He reiterated his ambition to make humanity a multiplanetary species.

“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”.

More than 4,400 current and former SpaceX employees are expected to have become millionaires through stock they received as part of their compensation.

Despite the record valuation, SpaceX has been operating at a loss. The company lost approximately $8.7 billion between the start of 2025 and March 31, 2026, due to massive spending on AI infrastructure and reusable rocket technology. The IPO funds will be used to continue these investments, including plans to put 100,000 next-generation Starlink satellites into orbit and launch AI data centres into space.

Musk built the foundation of his fortune by creating two companies, Zip2 and PayPal, which netted him about $200 million at sale. He used that capital to start SpaceX in 2002 and invest in Tesla.

The second richest person in the world is now Alphabet co-founder Larry Page, with an estimated net worth of $296 billion, less than a third of Musk’s current fortune.