Elon Musk becomes first trillionaire on paper after SpaceX IPO

Elon Musk has become the world's first trillionaire on paper after Space Exploration Technologies Corp. priced its initial public offering at $135 per share, vaulting his combined holdings in SpaceX and Tesla to an unprecedented $1.1 trillion valuation.

Record public offering

SpaceX priced 555.6 million Class A shares at $135 each, raising approximately $75 billion in the largest initial public offering in history and surpassing Saudi Aramco's 2019 listing. The offering values the Hawthorne-based company at roughly $1.77 trillion.

Shares are scheduled to begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol "SPCX," placing the rocket manufacturer among the world's most valuable publicly traded firms. The listing incorporates historical financial data from xAI and X Holdings following recent transactions among entities under Musk's control.

Holdings valuation

According to the IPO prospectus, Musk will hold approximately 849.5 million Class A shares and 5.57 billion Class B shares, granting him 84.4 percent of the company's combined voting power. At the IPO price, his disclosed SpaceX stake alone is worth approximately $866.5 billion on paper.

Separately, Musk beneficially owns roughly 717.1 million shares of Tesla worth approximately $286.2 billion based on recent trading prices. The combined valuation establishes a new benchmark in personal wealth, though the figure remains theoretical and subject to market fluctuations once trading commences.

Contingent milestones

The trillion-dollar calculation includes performance-based SpaceX awards tied to ambitious milestones, including establishing a permanent Mars colony with at least one million inhabitants and deploying non-Earth-based data centers capable of delivering large-scale computing capacity. Without these contingent awards, Musk's wealth would remain below the threshold based solely on his current Tesla stake and non-contingent SpaceX holdings.

SpaceX generated revenue of $18.7 billion in 2025, up from $14 billion in 2024, while its net loss widened to $4.9 billion from a profit of $791 million a year earlier. The company has expanded from a launch provider founded in 2002 into a broader space, satellite internet and artificial intelligence group encompassing Starlink services and long-term interplanetary settlement projects.

Wealth context

Musk was already ranked as the world's richest person before the SpaceX listing based on his electric vehicle holdings and other ventures. The IPO lifts the notional value of his assets to a level no individual has previously reached in public wealth rankings, although most of the fortune remains tied to volatile equity valuations rather than liquid cash.