Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) saw its stock soar on its first day of listing on the 12th, making Musk the world's first person whose net worth surpasses $1 trillion (approximately 4.06 trillion Ringgit).
Even without factoring in intraday prices and only tallying based on the issue price, and adding the market value of more than 700 million Tesla shares he holds, Musk—who owns about 42% of SpaceX—has already crossed the $1 trillion wealth threshold.
Listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange in New York, SpaceX opened at $150, up 11% from the issue price. By midday, it hit a day high of $176.52, expanding gains to nearly 31% before paring some, and finally closed at $160.95, up about 19.2%. The company's market value exceeded $2.1 trillion, with after-hours trading seeing at least a further 1% gain.
At the close, SpaceX ranked as the sixth-largest U.S. stock by market capitalization, with Tesla in eighth place.
A Significant Step Toward an Interstellar Human Civilization
The SpaceX management team rang the opening bell at the exchange, and Musk delivered a video speech, remotely participating in the bell-ringing ceremony.
Musk stated: "Today belongs not only to SpaceX, but also to everyone who believes in humanity's future as a multi-planetary species."
He emphasized that going public will not change the company's long-term mission.
The blockbuster IPO raised over $75 billion; if underwriters exercise an additional option for nearly 83 million shares, total fundraising could reach over $86 billion. It is widely expected that this will trigger a wave of AI company IPOs in the coming months.
According to media reports, institutional investor demand for SpaceX's IPO topped $250 billion, with nearly one-third of institutions not allocated any shares; retail orders exceeded $100 billion but received only a 20% allotment.
SpaceX was co-founded by Musk in 2002 and gradually evolved into a major satellite operator, bringing the AI company xAI into its group, which also includes the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
It is currently the first major AI powerhouse to formally enter public trading in the open market.