NEW YORK, June 13 (Our New York News) — SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX on June 12, turning a private rocket and satellite company founded in 2002 into one of the most valuable public companies in U.S. markets and pushing Elon Musk’s estimated paper wealth above $1 trillion, according to market data and wealth estimates from Forbes and Bloomberg.
The central financial record is the first day of trading. SpaceX priced its initial public offering at $135 a share and raised $75 billion, according to offering terms attributed to the company. Nasdaq trading data showed the stock opened around $150, rose as high as about $176.50 during the session and closed near $161.
Those prices moved the company’s market value from roughly $1.77 trillion to $1.8 trillion at the offering price to more than $2 trillion by the end of the first day, based on market capitalization calculations tied to the public share price.
For Musk, the impact was immediate but depends on how his holdings are counted. Forbes and Bloomberg estimates placed his total net worth at roughly $1.05 trillion to $1.11 trillion after the debut. The figures are estimates, not cash holdings. They are tied largely to the market value of stock and options, including his holdings in SpaceX and Tesla.
Musk’s SpaceX stake alone was estimated at about $688 billion at the IPO price and about $690 billion in some first-day calculations. Other estimates placed the stake higher, around $766 billion to nearly $800 billion, when using higher trading prices or including options. The range shows how much a paper fortune can shift during one trading session.
The offering also changed who can invest in SpaceX. Before the IPO, ownership was limited to Musk, employees, private investors and other early backers. After the Nasdaq listing, public-market investors could buy and sell shares, giving the company a daily market price and exposing new shareholders to the stock’s gains and losses.
The money raised gives SpaceX a large pool of capital for its expansion plans. Musk said the company was going public to fund plans for satellites and data centers in space and, eventually, a human settlement on Mars, according to comments reported by The Associated Press. Those plans remain long-term goals, while the IPO proceeds are a completed financing event.
The debut also created a sharp gap between public-market demand and at least one independent valuation. Morningstar analysts, described by AP and PBS NewsHour as independent of investment-banking fees tied to the deal, estimated SpaceX’s value at about $780 billion. They called the IPO “significantly overvalued.” That estimate was far below both the IPO valuation and the value implied by first-day trading.
The difference matters for investors because the IPO price and the closing price both reflected what buyers were willing to pay in the public market, not a guarantee of future earnings or future share performance. A company valued above $2 trillion must support that price over time through growth, profits, contracts or other business results. The research brief supplied for this article did not include SpaceX’s prospectus, audited financial statements or full share-count filing, which limits any independent review of revenue, losses, margins or risk factors.
The share structure also remains a key unresolved issue. Several reports described Musk as retaining outsized control through a dual-class or special share structure. But the exact figures conflict. Reported ownership levels ranged from 38% to 42% to about half of the company, and one account described voting power near 85%. Because the underlying offering document was not included in the records reviewed for this article, those figures are treated as uncertain.
What the records do show is that the IPO concentrated a large share of the financial gain with Musk while also creating a new public market for SpaceX shares. For workers who hold equity, the listing may give their shares a clearer market value. For customers and government or commercial partners, the public listing gives SpaceX more access to capital but also adds pressure from public shareholders. For investors, the stock’s first day showed heavy demand, but it also created exposure to a company whose valuation some analysts challenged before trading began.
The New York market setting is central to the story. SpaceX’s listing took place through Nasdaq, making the company’s value visible through U.S. public-market trading. Musk marked the start of trading with a ceremonial bell-ringing from Starbase in South Texas, according to PBS NewsHour, but the financial event unfolded in the Nasdaq market system used by investors in New York and around the world.
By the close of trading on June 12, the documented result was clear: SpaceX had completed a $75 billion IPO, its shares had risen from a $135 offering price to about $161, its market value had climbed above $2 trillion, and wealth indexes placed Musk above the $1 trillion mark for the first time based on the market value of his holdings.
