SpaceX vaults past Amazon to fifth place in global market cap, four days after historic IPO

Market surge on Tuesday

Shares of SpaceX rose 8.48% to $208.83 shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street, lifting the company's market capitalisation above $2.7 trillion. By the afternoon, the stock was up 12.37%, pushing the valuation past $2,832 billion, according to one report. Amazon's capitalisation stood at roughly $2,650 billion, leaving the e-commerce and cloud-computing giant behind after nearly three decades as a public company.

SpaceX also briefly overtook Microsoft on Tuesday. The software maker carries a valuation of roughly $2,918 billion. Chipmaker Nvidia tops the global ranking at more than $5,000 billion, followed by Alphabet (Google) and Apple.

Nvidia5,000

Alphabet (Google)2,918

Apple2,918

Microsoft2,918

SpaceX2,832

Amazon2,650

Nvidia

5000 $bn

Alphabet (Google)

2918 $bn

Apple

2918 $bn

Microsoft

2918 $bn

SpaceX

2832 $bn

Amazon

2650 $bn

Data from the article text

A record-breaking debut

The company raised $86 billion in its Wall Street debut on Friday, making it the largest initial public offering ever. That sum far exceeds the $25.6 billion collected by Saudi Aramco in 2019. The initial target was $75 billion, but partner banks exercised an option to sell additional shares.

Since the IPO, the stock has climbed nearly 40%, with some sources reporting a gain of more than 60%. Eric Clark, head of investments at Accuvest Global Advisors, attributed the move to enthusiasm from retail investors colliding with a very low number of shares available, since institutional investors are not selling.

“This is primarily due to the enthusiasm of individual investors, meeting a very low number of available shares, because there are no sellers among institutional investors.”

The AI factor and Musk's vision

Investors are buying into Elon Musk's vision of a multifaceted conglomerate spanning rockets, artificial intelligence, chips, satellite internet, and a social network. Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers told AFP that global markets are gripped by genuine fervour for AI and for any group that might be a beneficiary of that spending.

“There is a real craze for AI on global markets and for any group that could be one of the beneficiaries of this spending.”

Caution ahead

Clark noted that large IPOs traditionally experience an air pocket during their first year of trading. Whether SpaceX can sustain its early momentum remains an open question, but for now the company sits firmly among the world's most valuable enterprises just days into its life as a public company.