SpaceX Surges 19% on First Day of Trading, Reaching $2.2 Trillion Market Cap; Musk Becomes World's First Trillionaire
Alina Collins
SpaceX listed on Nasdaq June 12 and closed at $160.95, up roughly 19% from its $135 IPO price, pushing its market cap to about $2.2 trillion. Musk's net worth surged to roughly $1.1 trillion — the first individual ever to cross that threshold — yet the company is still losing money and valuation skeptics are far from silenced.
How big was this IPO?
The offering raised about $75 billion and drew over $350 billion in subscription demand — a new global IPO record.
Retail investors alone submitted orders exceeding $100 billion. SpaceX allocated more than 20% of IPO shares to retail, well above the industry norm of 5%–10%.
This means → demand outstripped supply by nearly 5×. Even with an unusually large retail slice, most applicants received partial fills or none at all.
Did first-day buyers make or lose money?
Investors who secured IPO allocations at $135 were the clear winners — a ~19.2% gain by the close.
The stock opened at $150 at 11:46 AM ET, giving open-price buyers a ~7.3% return. Within three minutes it spiked to $168.75, then swung sharply.
The Motley Fool calculated that after 11:52 AM, the stock traded below the closing price for only about 17 minutes. In plain terms = anyone who missed the IPO allocation and didn't buy in the first few minutes of trading was underwater for nearly the entire session.
What supports a $2.2 trillion valuation?
Starlink — SpaceX's satellite-internet arm — has roughly 12 million active subscribers and contributes over 60% of revenue, operating a constellation of more than 10,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites.
SpaceX has also signed large-scale deals with Alphabet and Anthropic, pushing into AI computing and infrastructure. Vanda Research strategist Viraj Patel: "The market used to chase EVs. Now AI is replacing EVs as the hottest theme."
This reflects a narrative shift from "rocket company" to "space + AI platform." Valuation: ~$100 billion in 2021 → ~$1 trillion after the xAI merger in February → $2.2 trillion post-IPO.
Who got rich from this listing?
Of SpaceX's roughly 22,000 employees, about 4,400 are set to become millionaires; roughly 400 will reach billionaire status.
Venture returns are staggering: Founders Fund invested $600 million for ~3% — worth over $50 billion at the IPO price. Andreessen Horowitz holds stock worth more than $10 billion; Sequoia, over $20 billion.
Independent compensation consultant Dan Walter: "This is no longer generational wealth. It is wealth on a scale that is practically infinite."
Has the valuation debate been settled?
No. CFRA Research senior analyst Keith Snyder issued the first sell rating with a $115 target. Morningstar's probability-weighted DCF model set a target of $63 — a 53% discount to the IPO price.
The company is still unprofitable: ~$4.9 billion net loss in 2025, $4.3 billion net loss in Q1 2026 alone — against quarterly revenue of just $4.7 billion. In plain terms = it lost more in one quarter than it earned.
This means → near-term, inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 index will bring forced passive buying. But Musk is locked up for one year. Whether Starlink subscriber growth and AI partnerships can convert to profit is the core test of whether the $2.2 trillion price tag holds.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.