Elon Musk briefly became the world's first trillionaire Friday following a surge in SpaceX shares in its Wall Street trading debut, according to Bloomberg. Shares of the tech and artificial intelligence enterprise rose more than 21% in early trading to a high of $168.75, lifting Musk's estimated wealth to above $1 trillion.
However, the stock pared its gains and as of the latest Forbes Real Time Billionaires Index, Musk's net worth stands at $981 billion.
At a launch event in Starbase, Elon Musk promised he will take humanity to Mars. "SpaceX wants to be able to take you to the moon, take you to Mars, and ultimately beyond," he said.
SpaceX placed among top US listed companies
At the IPO price, SpaceX ranks among the seven largest listed companies in the United States by market cap. The valuation could rise further if underwriters exercise their option to sell additional shares over the coming weeks.
The listing marks a major milestone for Musk's business empire, giving public market investors access to a company that spans commercial space launches, satellite broadband through Starlink and artificial intelligence through xAI.
SpaceX said in its prospectus that its total addressable market is worth $28.5 trillion, which it described as the largest market opportunity in human history.
Also Read: SpaceX IPO Stock Price Live Updates
Co-founded by Musk in 2002, the rocket startup has since expanded into a major satellite operator and has also folded in Musk's artificial intelligence company — xAI — which includes the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
SpaceX is the first out of the gates among leading AI giants eyeing public markets, with OpenAI and Anthropic both recently filing initial documents with regulators.
The IPO came just over a year after Musk left President Donald Trump's administration, following a months-long stint leading the highly contentious "DOGE" effort to slash government spending -- while simultaneously juggling his CEO roles at Tesla and SpaceX.
The public offer also came at a time when artificial intelligence-linked stocks have driven Wall Street to fresh highs, with capital pouring into semiconductor makers, cloud companies, AI infrastructure firms and technology funds.
Also read: SpaceX leveraged fund providers hit by day-one launch setback, sources say
"Historically, after the listing of such large market-cap companies, the probability of a short-term top cannot be ruled out," said Sunny Agrawal, Head of Fundamental Research at SBI Securities. He noted that investors have already been shifting money from other asset classes into equities.
"We are already seeing rotation of capital from other asset classes like gold, silver, bitcoin and AI trades, and it is making its way into new IPO issuances," Agrawal said.
