Elon Musk officially enters the history of world finance. Thanks to SpaceX’s record debut on Wall Street, the founder of Tesla,
The largest IPO ever
According to updated data from Bloomberg, the South African tycoon’s fortune reached around $1.1 trillion after the listing of SpaceX on the Nasdaq. The aerospace company, of which Musk controls approximately 42% of the capital, in fact debuted on the stock exchange with a valuation of more than 2,000 billion dollars, a figure that immediately places it among the most valuable companies in the world.
The operation was defined by analysts as the largest IPO (initial public offering) ever carried out. The placement raised around $75 billion, surpassing the previous record held by Saudi Aramco in 2019. The listing caused an immediate surge in Musk’s personal wealth, which in a few days went from around $700 billion to over $1 trillion.
From an almost impossible feat to conquering Wall Street
In his speech, the billionaire retraced the beginnings of the space adventure. When he founded SpaceX in 2002, few observers thought it possible that a private company could compete with aerospace giants and government agencies.
“If anyone had told me this would actually happen, I would have thought someone smoked something very heavy,” Musk joked. “I gave SpaceX less than a 10% chance of success. I openly told employees that we would probably fail, but that it was still worth trying.”
According to Tesla’s owner, the real goal was not just to build rockets, but to open a new era for humanity. “If a new company doesn’t enter the space sector, we will never become a civilization truly capable of space travel,” he recalled.
The dream of Mars
But the landing on Wall Street was also a moment to outline, according to the tycoon’s intentions, the future of space exploration. The SpaceX founder reiterated that the company’s ultimate goal remains to make regular trips to the Moon and Mars possible.
“SpaceX wants to take you to the Moon, Mars and ultimately even further,” he said, addressing employees and people watching live. “I’m not just talking about astronauts. I mean anyone watching this video. We want to make it possible for everyone to reach other worlds.”
Words that continue to fuel the enthusiasm of investors, convinced that the market for space launches, satellite telecommunications and future interplanetary missions could be worth trillions of dollars in the coming decades.
How much is a trillion dollars worth?
The figure reached by Musk is so high that it is difficult to imagine. One trillion dollars is approximately equivalent to the annual gross domestic product of Poland, one of Europe’s largest economies. It is also a sum higher than the market value of most listed companies in the world.
To understand the dimensions of the phenomenon, just look at the gap that separates Musk from the other super-rich. Even adding the assets of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, among the richest men on the planet, remains well below the threshold reached by the founder of SpaceX.
The milestone of the first trillionaire thus represents not only a personal record, but also the symbol of a growing concentration of global wealth in the hands of an ever smaller number of individuals. A phenomenon that has fueled the political and economic debate on inequality and the role of large fortunes in the world economy for years.