Elon Musk Becomes First Trillionaire as SpaceX IPO Soars 19.22%, Ranks 6th Largest Company Globally

(Central News Agency reporter Liao Han-yuan, New York, April 12) SpaceX, the American space exploration company, went public today, closing up 19.22%. On its first trading day, its market capitalization reached approximately $2.2 trillion, ranking it as the 6th largest company globally. To celebrate the listing of the 23-year-old company, the Times Square New Year's Eve countdown crystal ball was specially raised in red, drawing the attention of tourists.

After Nasdaq opened in the morning, SpaceX shares became visible around midday, surging over 30% at one point. On April 12, the closing price was $160.95, up 19.22%, giving the company a market value of about $2.2 trillion, placing it sixth among global enterprises. Elon Musk, CEO of both SpaceX and Tesla, became the world's first billionaire to surpass a trillion-dollar net worth on the 12th. The New York Times estimates Musk owns approximately 6.4 billion shares in SpaceX. Combined with his Tesla holdings and other investments, his wealth is estimated at $1.1 trillion, exceeding the annual gross domestic product (GDP) of many nations.

Musk's soaring wealth means that even the combined assets of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (worth around $200–300 billion), Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg—five of the wealthiest tech figures—fall short of Musk's individual fortune.

Other billionaires such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, with an estimated net worth of around $200 billion, and legendary investor Warren Buffett, worth about $145 billion, are also far behind.

After a long drought of large IPOs on Wall Street since the mid-2010s Chinese tech listing wave, SpaceX's futuristic momentum lifted the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq indices, all of which closed higher on the 12th. AI-related tech stocks including Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla also rose in tandem.

Besides Musk, SpaceX employees, and early investors becoming overnight millionaires, investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which arranged the listing, earned approximately $100 million in underwriting fees.

Global investors participated in SpaceX's IPO, with over 500 million new shares circulating in the capital markets. Retail investors also had the opportunity to purchase small amounts of shares once trading prices were displayed. (Edited by Tien Jui-hua) 1150613