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Elon Musk has become the world’s first trillionaire on paper after SpaceX’s record-breaking initial public offering on Friday, vaulting his combined stake in the rocket company and Tesla past the $1 trillion mark. The Nasdaq-listed shares of SpaceX closed at $160.95 on Thursday, capping a debut that valued the company at more than $2 trillion and erased in a single day the $160 billion in market capitalisation Tesla has lost over the past six months.
SpaceX’s IPO, the largest in history, immediately transformed Musk’s financial standing. The company’s valuation surged from $18.7 billion in revenue and nearly $5 billion in losses in 2025 to a market capitalisation exceeding that of every publicly traded U.S. corporation except Apple and Microsoft. Analysts noted that the listing marks the first time an individual’s wealth has reached the trillion-dollar threshold in public wealth rankings, though the fortune remains tied to volatile equity.
The milestone arrives as Tesla, once the sole engine of Musk’s wealth, struggles with declining deliveries, shrinking margins, and intensifying competition from Chinese automakers such as BYD. Tesla’s market capitalisation has fallen from $1.43 trillion in December 2025 to about $1.27 trillion, a drop that would have devastated most multinationals. Musk, however, has redirected investor focus toward SpaceX, Starlink, and his artificial intelligence ventures, including the $2 billion investment Tesla made in xAI earlier this year.
Critics, including Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, argue that Musk’s fortune rests on a self-reinforcing cycle of expectation rather than tangible results. Krugman has described the SpaceX valuation as emblematic of markets rewarding future promises over present performance, citing unfulfilled projects such as Hyperloop, the Boring Company’s tunnels, and fully autonomous driving. “The markets are rewarding the expectation of future success,” Krugman said, “not the delivery of current performance.”
The IPO also thrust Musk back into the spotlight for reasons beyond finance. Researchers accused him of amplifying violent rhetoric on X, formerly Twitter, following anti-immigration riots in Belfast, describing his platform as a megaphone for divisive discourse. The criticism underscores the dual role Musk now occupies: as a financial phenomenon and as a polarising public figure whose influence extends across technology, space, and social media.
With SpaceX shares now among the most widely held in index funds, millions of retail investors have indirectly bought into Musk’s vision of a multiplanetary future powered by Starlink and reusable rockets. Whether the valuation withstands the test of time remains an open question, but for now, Musk’s trillion-dollar milestone has redefined the boundaries of personal wealth and corporate ambition.
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