SpaceX’s record IPO positions Elon Musk as the world’s first trillionaire

SpaceX went public on June 12, and in doing so, rewrote the record books. The company debuted on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX at $135 per share, raising approximately $75 billion and achieving a valuation between $1.75 trillion and $1.8 trillion.

That makes it the largest IPO in history, dethroning Saudi Aramco’s 2019 offering. It also makes Elon Musk, who holds over 42% of SpaceX shares, something no human has been before: a trillionaire.

The numbers behind the record

Musk’s stake was valued at roughly $866.5 billion at the IPO price alone. Combined with his other holdings, including Tesla, his estimated net worth crossed the $1 trillion threshold. Bloomberg pegged an adjusted figure closer to $988 billion, noting that the final number depends on post-IPO trading performance and lock-up periods that restrict when insiders can actually sell.

The offering was oversubscribed, meaning far more people wanted shares than there were shares available.

SpaceX posted operating losses of approximately $4.2 billion in 2025. The company generated $18.67 billion in revenue that year, and the IPO valued it at roughly 93 times trailing revenue. A significant chunk of those losses came from heavy AI investments following SpaceX’s merger with xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence startup. The merger happened earlier in 2026 and pushed SpaceX’s private valuation to $1 trillion before the company even hit the public markets.

The path from private rocket shop to public behemoth

SpaceX’s private valuation sat at around $400 billion in mid-2025. By December 2025, a tender offer pegged it at $800 billion. The xAI merger bumped it to $1 trillion earlier this year. Then the IPO priced at $1.75 to $1.8 trillion.

The engine behind this growth has been Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet constellation, which has been generating increasing revenue as it expands coverage and adds subscribers globally. Combined with SpaceX’s dominant position in commercial satellite launches, the revenue story gave investors enough confidence to look past the red ink on the balance sheet.

The IPO filings also revealed that Musk maintains majority control through super-voting shares. It means that even as a public company, SpaceX will essentially operate at Musk’s discretion.

What this means for investors

The $4.2 billion in operating losses is not a rounding error. The 93x revenue multiple means investors are pricing in years of explosive growth that hasn’t materialized yet.

Musk’s net worth is tied overwhelmingly to two companies: Tesla and SpaceX. Both trade at valuations that assume near-perfect execution for years to come.

The previous IPO record-holder, Saudi Aramco, was the world’s most profitable company when it went public. SpaceX is not profitable at all.