NEW YORK, June 13 (Our New York News) — SpaceX began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX on June 12 in a public-market debut that quickly pushed the rocket and satellite company’s value above $2 trillion, according to Nasdaq trading activity and market-capitalization calculations based on first-day share prices.
The listing also changed the public accounting of Elon Musk’s wealth. Forbes and Bloomberg wealth estimates placed Musk’s net worth at roughly $1.05 trillion to $1.11 trillion after the debut, making him the first person whose fortune has been estimated above $1 trillion. Those estimates are not cash holdings. They are mainly tied to stock and options whose value can rise or fall with market prices.
The clearest evidence is the trading record. SpaceX priced its initial public offering at $135 a share, according to offering terms announced by the company and reflected in market trading. The offering raised $75 billion, according to the company’s IPO announcement as described in reviewed reports. Nasdaq trading data showed the stock opened around $150, rose as high as about $176.50 during the session and closed at roughly $161.
That first-day close was about 19% above the IPO price. Based on the public share price, market value calculations placed SpaceX above $2 trillion by the end of its first trading day. The IPO pricing itself implied a lower value, reported around $1.77 trillion to $1.8 trillion.
For New York’s financial markets, the debut added one of the world’s largest private technology and aerospace companies to public trading through Nasdaq. The ceremonial bell-ringing was reported from Starbase in South Texas, but the financial event played out through Nasdaq trading and Wall Street valuation.
The rise had different effects for different groups. New public investors who bought at or after the opening paid more than the $135 IPO price. Earlier investors and workers holding equity saw the paper value of those holdings rise with the share price. Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002, had the largest reported exposure to that increase.
Musk’s SpaceX stake alone was estimated at roughly $688 billion at the IPO price in Forbes-based calculations cited in reviewed reports. Other estimates put the figure near $690 billion. At higher first-day trading prices, estimates rose to roughly $766 billion to $800 billion, depending on the share price used and whether options were included.
The range matters because the trillionaire finding depends on timing and method. Forbes and Bloomberg both count large stock and option holdings when estimating wealth. Those values are mark-to-market estimates, not money Musk received from the IPO.
Musk said SpaceX was going public to fund plans for satellites and data centers in space and, ultimately, a human settlement on Mars, according to a statement reported by The Associated Press. The company’s public-market valuation now gives investors a daily price for those plans, but it also exposes SpaceX to public-market swings.
One independent valuation was far lower than the IPO price implied. Morningstar analysts, described in AP and PBS reporting as independent of investment-banking fees, estimated SpaceX’s value at about $780 billion and called the IPO “significantly overvalued.” That estimate was less than half the company’s reported IPO valuation and far below its first-day public-market value.
The records reviewed also leave important gaps. Several reports described a dual-class or special share structure that lets Musk keep outsized control, but the exact ownership and voting-power figures conflicted across accounts. The underlying offering filing or share-count document needed to verify those figures was not included in the reviewed source material.
What can be documented from the available records is narrower: SpaceX listed on Nasdaq as SPCX, priced its IPO at $135 a share, raised $75 billion, traded well above the offer price on its first day and ended the session with a market value above $2 trillion. Wealth indexes then used those market prices to estimate Musk’s net worth above $1 trillion, with his SpaceX stake alone estimated around $690 billion at the IPO price and higher at first-day trading prices.
