Elon Musk has become the first person in history to amass a fortune exceeding $1 trillion after SpaceX made a spectacular debut on the stock market.
The milestone was reached as investors piled into shares of the aerospace giant, sending its valuation soaring and further cementing Musk’s position as the richest person on Earth.
As SpaceX stock climbed to more than $158 per share during its first day of trading, Musk’s personal fortune surged past the trillion-dollar mark. The billionaire entrepreneur owns more than 41% of the company, making him the biggest beneficiary of the stock’s rapid rise.
The historic achievement has sent shockwaves through financial markets, with signs that investors were selling holdings in some of the world’s largest technology firms to free up cash for SpaceX shares.
According to Samuel Kerr, head of equity capital markets research at Mergermarket, trading patterns suggested investors had been reducing positions in major technology stocks while preparing to buy into the highly anticipated offering.
The so-called “Magnificent Seven” — a group that includes Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, Tesla and Alphabet — appeared to feel some of the impact. Shares in Tesla, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon slipped slightly following the launch, while several others traded largely flat.
SpaceX’s strong debut also delivered instant gains for retail investors who secured shares at the initial offering price of $135. With the stock jumping more than 11% to around $150 shortly after trading began, investors who bought 20 shares saw paper gains of approximately £223 within days.
Investment platform AJ Bell noted that achieving a similar return through a savings account paying 4.83% interest would take around two years.
“The tens of thousands of retail investors who took the risk of buying shares in SpaceX’s IPO offer will be grinning like a Cheshire Cat,” said AJ Bell markets analyst Dan Coatsworth.
While investors celebrated, critics voiced concerns about the growing concentration of wealth.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren called for a wealth tax after news of Musk’s trillionaire status emerged.
“The typical American household would have to work more than 11 million years to make Elon Musk’s level of wealth,” Warren wrote on social media. “We need a wealth tax.”
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders also renewed calls for changes to the US tax system, arguing that wealthy individuals should contribute more to Social Security funding.
Anti-poverty organisation Oxfam described the development as a “dark day for global democracy”, noting that Musk’s wealth now exceeds that of billions of people combined.
Despite his extraordinary fortune, Musk has frequently claimed he lives a relatively modest lifestyle. In 2020, he pledged to sell off most of his property portfolio and later said his primary residence was a prefabricated home in Texas worth about $50,000.
Nevertheless, the billionaire still owns an enviable collection of private jets and luxury vehicles, including the famous 1976 Lotus Esprit submarine car featured in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.
The SpaceX rally also had a noticeable impact on Tesla. Shares in the electric vehicle manufacturer fell nearly 2% as investor attention shifted toward Musk’s newest market sensation.
Although Tesla stock remains considerably more valuable on a per-share basis, SpaceX’s market debut has created a new centre of gravity in Musk’s business empire.
With the world’s first trillionaire now a reality, the SpaceX launch is likely to intensify debate over wealth inequality, taxation and the growing influence of billionaire entrepreneurs on the global economy.
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