Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire on paper after SpaceX IPO

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Elon Musk has become the world’s first trillionaire on paper after SpaceX priced its record initial public offering at $135 per share, according to calculations based on company and Tesla filings.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, priced 555.6 million Class A shares at $135 each, raising about $75 billion in the largest IPO in history.

The offering values the company at about $1.77 trillion and is expected to make SpaceX one of the world’s most valuable publicly traded companies when its shares begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker “SPCX.”

According to SpaceX’s IPO prospectus, Musk is set to hold about 849.5 million Class A shares and 5.57 billion Class B shares after the offering, giving him 84.4% of the company’s combined voting power.

At the IPO price, Musk’s disclosed SpaceX holdings are worth about $866.5 billion on paper.

Musk also beneficially owns about 717.1 million Tesla shares, according to Tesla securities filings. Based on Tesla’s recent share price of $399.15, that stake is worth roughly $286.2 billion.

Combined, Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla holdings are valued at about $1.1 trillion on paper.

However, the figure is largely theoretical and depends heavily on SpaceX’s market valuation after trading begins and Tesla’s share price.

It also includes performance-based SpaceX stock awards that are tied to ambitious milestones, including market capitalization targets, the establishment of a permanent human colony on Mars with at least 1 million inhabitants, and the completion of non-Earth-based data centers capable of delivering large-scale computing capacity.

Without those contingent SpaceX awards, Musk would be below the trillion-dollar threshold based only on his current Tesla stake and non-contingent SpaceX holdings.

SpaceX’s prospectus showed the company remains loss-making despite rapid revenue growth. The company posted revenue of $18.7 billion in 2025, up from $14 billion in 2024, while its net loss widened to $4.9 billion from a profit of $791 million a year earlier.

The company’s results include the historical figures of xAI and X Holdings following transactions among entities under Musk’s control.

SpaceX, founded by Musk in 2002, has grown from a launch provider into a broader space, satellite internet and artificial intelligence group. Its operations include rocket launches, Starlink satellite internet services, AI infrastructure and long-term projects tied to space-based computing and Mars settlement.

The IPO surpasses Saudi Aramco’s 2019 listing, which had previously been the largest public offering in history.

Musk was already ranked as the world’s richest person before the SpaceX listing, largely because of his holdings in Tesla and other companies. The IPO lifts the notional value of his assets to a level no individual has previously reached in public wealth rankings, although most of the fortune remains tied to volatile equity valuations rather than cash.