Investors are betting on Elon Musk establishing data centers in space and making a permanent human colony on Mars.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has become the first trillionaire on the planet after his shares in SpaceX jumped in its blockbuster Wall Street debut on June 12.
SpaceX shares gained 19 percent on its first day of trading in the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history. Its stocks opened at around $150 per share, then shot to $168 before ending the day at around $161.
Based on his combined stakes in SpaceX and Tesla Motors, Musk has attained trillionaire status.
Prior to the opening bell, Forbes estimated Musk’s net worth at $981 billion.
Musk has already widened the gap between himself and the next wealthiest people, including Google’s Larry Page ($296 billion), Google’s Sergey Brin ($273 billion), Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ($247 billion), and Oracle’s Larry Ellison ($227 billion).
Strong demand for SpaceX stock—driven by investors betting that he could replicate the success seen at other ventures through his lofty ambitions—pushed the company’s valuation to $2 trillion shortly after its debut.
Musk first made his money by helping create PayPal and Zip2. He used the proceeds from these sales to invest in Tesla and start SpaceX. The former helped transform the electric vehicle market and delivered a 31,000 percent return for shareholders since its debut in 2010. The latter has learned to reuse rockets. This is in addition to the prospects of The Boring Company and Neuralink.
According to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month, SpaceX plans to reach for the stars and make life multi-planetary. This begins by establishing a presence on the moon and Mars, which could spur the emergence of other industries.
“We want to be able to take anyone who wants to go to the moon, anyone who wants to go to Mars or anywhere in the solar system, and maybe beyond the solar system,” Musk said at a ceremonial bell ringing from Starbase, the company’s home in South Texas.
“At some point, we want to be able to take you there, not just a few astronauts, I mean you, literally you.
“Whoever you are watching this, SpaceX wants to be able to take you to the moon, take you to Mars, and ultimately beyond.”
But SpaceX also wants to launch data centers into orbit and outperform Anthropic and OpenAI in the AI arms race. The company acquired xAI—Musk’s startup—in February.
By Andrew Moran
