SpaceX debuts on Nasdaq in record $75bn IPO, Elon Musk becomes world’s first trillionaire
On Friday, Elon Musk’s SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq after the largest initial public offering in history, raising $75 billion. Shares closed up 19%, instantly making Musk the first person worth over one trillion dollars.
The record-breaking IPO
SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 per share on Thursday, selling 555.6 million shares to institutional investors and raising approximately $75 billion. The offering valued the company at $1.77 trillion, making it the seventh most valuable U.S. public company, ahead of Meta and Tesla. Trading under ticker SPCX on the Nasdaq began on Friday, with shares opening at $150, an 11% premium to the IPO price. After a delayed open due to the massive order book, the stock surged as high as $165, a 22% gain from the IPO price, before closing at $161, up 19%.
Market environment
Broader indices rose alongside the debut. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added over 350 points (0.70%) to close at 51,202.26, the S&P 500 gained 0.50% to 7,431.46, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.31% to 25,888.84. The VIX volatility index fell 9.05% to 17.68, signaling calmer sentiment.
Musk becomes first trillionaire
Elon Musk’s combined stakes in SpaceX and Tesla pushed his net worth above $1 trillion. He controls 82.4% of the voting power in SpaceX and is restricted from selling any shares for at least one year. Some 4,400 current and former employees became millionaires as a result of the listing. At the symbolic opening bell ceremonies in Texas and New York, Musk and President and COO Gwynne Shotwell rang in the new era.
I thought the chances of success of SpaceX were less than 10 percent. I told people straight: listen, we will most likely fail, but it’s worth trying. Because if we don’t do it, if no new company enters the space sector, we will never become a space-faring civilization.
The goal of SpaceX is to enable people to travel to the Moon, to Mars, and later even further.
Financials: deep losses, Starlink growth
SpaceX remains deeply unprofitable. It reported a net loss of $4.28 billion in the first quarter of 2026 and $4.94 billion for all of 2025. Since its founding in 2002, the company has accumulated a deficit of about $41.3 billion. Revenue grew 33% to $18.67 billion in 2025, driven largely by the Starlink satellite internet division. Starlink contributed 61% of total sales in 2025 and that share rose to 69% in Q1 2026. Capital expenditures jumped to $10.1 billion in the first quarter, with $7.7 billion spent on artificial intelligence.
Starlink and AI ambitions
The IPO proceeds will fund what Musk described as a “significant growth phase,” including plans to deploy over 100,000 satellites for communication and to build AI data centers in space. In February, SpaceX acquired Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI, bringing the Grok AI models, chatbot, and the social network X (formerly Twitter) under the same roof. The company warned in its prospectus that it may never achieve profitability.
- IPO priced at $135 per share, raising $75 billion at a $1.77 trillion valuation.
- Trading begins on Nasdaq under ticker SPCX; shares open at $150.
- Shares hit intraday high of $165, a 22% gain.
- Shares close at $161, up 19% from IPO price.
It’s not just that we have a new trillionaire, but that we have an entirely new economy — the space economy.
