via TechCrunch
Elon Musk Becomes the World's First Trillionaire After SpaceX's Historic IPO
Elon Musk has officially become the world’s first trillionaire following SpaceX’s public market debut on Friday, according to Bloomberg News.
As SpaceX’s founder and CEO, Musk owned approximately $860 billion worth of the rocket company’s stock after it was priced at $135 per share just before the IPO. Combined with his stake in Tesla and the immediate surge in SpaceX’s stock price on Friday, this gives the tech magnate—already the richest person in the world—an on-paper wealth exceeding $1,000,000,000,000.
SpaceX’s stock continued to climb in early trading on Friday, further boosting Musk’s net worth.
Musk’s rise to trillionaire status comes at a time when he is both increasingly disliked and more powerful than ever. In 2024, he spent roughly $300 million funding Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Subsequently, he became involved in the Trump administration, leading the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency”—which, by most accounts, failed to reduce overall government spending and primarily involved canceling contracts with minimal review or regard for their contents.
Musk also spearheaded the dismantling of entire agencies, such as USAID. According to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, this decision has already led to hundreds of thousands of deaths.
More wealth is on the horizon for Musk. Last year, Tesla shareholders awarded him a compensation package that could be worth $1 trillion on its own, contingent on the company’s valuation growth and achievement of specific operational milestones. Additionally, while one billion of his SpaceX shares cannot be sold until the company establishes a human colony on Mars—a goal SpaceX itself describes as “improbable”—Musk can borrow against those shares in the meantime. This would allow him to quickly access billions of dollars in cash before reaching that milestone, without paying taxes on that wealth.
With SpaceX now having public shareholders, Musk will maintain immense control over the company as it pursues what it calls the largest addressable market in history. He owns more than 80% of the voting power, can hand-select the board of directors, and has structured the company to severely limit any legal challenges.