SpaceX listing makes Musk a trillionaire

SpaceX has become a public company in the largest share sale in history, making its founder Elon Musk the world's first dollar trillionaire.

The initial public offering took place on 12 June, valuing the rocket and artificial intelligence company at $1.77 trillion. On its first day of trading, its value rose to around $2.1 trillion.

Record-breaking

The listing raised $86 billion for the company, far more than any previous share sale. SpaceX is now one of the most valuable companies listed in the United States.

Its shares trade on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol SPCX. Nasdaq changed its rules in March to allow very large new companies to join its Nasdaq-100 index much sooner than before.

Musk's fortune

Musk owns a large stake in SpaceX, and the valuation has pushed his personal fortune past one trillion dollars. He was already the world's richest person, thanks mainly to his shares in the electric car maker Tesla.

From rockets to AI

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the aim of cutting the cost of space travel and eventually sending people to Mars. It builds the Falcon 9 rocket, which lands its boosters for reuse, and the giant Starship rocket, and runs the Starlink satellite internet network, which has millions of customers around the world.

In February, SpaceX merged with xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company, which makes the Grok chatbot. The company says it will use the money raised to help build orbital AI infrastructure, putting computing power in space.

Doubts

Some investors and analysts have questioned whether the company is worth so much, and warned that the enthusiasm for AI has pushed some valuations too high. Only a small proportion of the company's shares are available to the public.

There are also questions about Musk's control of several large companies and his involvement in politics.

Britain

Starlink has many customers in Britain, particularly in rural areas where broadband is poor. British companies also supply parts for the space industry, which the government sees as an important growth sector.