SPACEX LISTS AT $1.8TN, MUSK BECOMES FIRST TRILLIONAIRE
SpaceX has raised $75bn from financial firms ahead of its listing on Friday, the biggest stock market debut in history.
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SpaceX is going public on Friday with an expected valuation of nearly $1.8 trillion, making it the highest-value stock listing in history and cementing Elon Musk's status as the world's first trillionaire. The company sold $75bn in shares priced at $135 each, matching the estimate SpaceX gave last week.
The listing will trade on the Nasdaq and marks a pivotal moment for the space industry, but it also serves as a test case for other companies with private valuations approaching $1 trillion. Both Anthropic and OpenAI have recently said they are preparing to go public, likely this year.
THE MUELLER FACTOR
Tom Mueller was SpaceX's first official employee, joining in 2002 when the company consisted of a handful of people in a rented warehouse. He left in 2020 to found Impulse Space, a competing orbital transport company. But Mueller maintains a considerable financial interest in SpaceX, and the listing is a vindication of the bet he made two decades ago. "it's unbelievable" is how he described the moment to the BBC's Michelle Fleury. "It's just been an incredible ride"
THE CONTROL QUESTION
Musk will maintain almost total control of SpaceX despite it becoming a public company. Through his combined holding of Class A and Class B shares, he will hold roughly 40% of the company's equity but more than 84% of the voting power. That is a level of control that dwarfs even Mark Zuckerberg's holding at Meta, where Zuckerberg's voting control sits around 60%. SpaceX will not need to have any independent directors on its board.
The structure means that even if Musk sells some Class A equity, he would retain control due to his Class B shares. Such control creates potential risk for investors who have no say in major corporate decisions. It also means the market is essentially betting on Musk's judgment rather than any board-level governance.
Wall Street is bullish. Oppenheimer expects the company to hit $190 a share, suggesting there is room for the stock to climb once trading opens.
THE XAI AND X CONNECTION
The filing also confirmed that SpaceX has acquired Musk's AI startup xAI. Meanwhile, xAI acquired the social media platform X in 2025. Musk had bought the platform, formerly known as Twitter, in 2022. The web of companies now tied to Musk through SpaceX gives him an unprecedented consolidated empire across space, social media, and artificial intelligence.
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