Elon Musk has, at least on paper, become the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX priced its highly anticipated initial public offering at $135 a share and the stock surged in its market debut.
Before the IPO, Musk’s net worth was estimated at $813 billion, according to Forbes — already more than double the fortune of the world’s second-richest person, Google co-founder Larry Page, whose wealth is estimated at $288 billion.
SpaceX’s decision to set its IPO price at $135 lifted Musk’s estimated fortune to just above $1 trillion. Shares of the company, trading under the ticker SPCX, climbed sharply after opening shortly before noon Eastern time. At an intraday peak of $168.75 on Friday, Musk’s net worth swelled to about $1.18 trillion, though any pullback in the stock could send him below the trillion-dollar mark again.
The scale of that wealth is difficult to overstate. A trillion dollars rivals the economic output of many of the world’s largest economies. According to World Bank data, only 19 countries have gross domestic products above $1 trillion, from the United States to the Netherlands.
Musk’s rapidly expanding fortune has also renewed criticism over widening wealth inequality. Nabil Ahmed, Oxfam America’s senior director of economic justice, said the milestone reflects what he described as a “new Gilded Age.”
“Elon Musk’s rise to trillionaire status marks a new pinnacle of oligarchy,” Ahmed said.
To be sure, plenty of other SpaceX employees and investors are likely to mint new fortunes with the IPO. About 4,400 SpaceX workers could become millionaires when the stock begins trading, according to the New York Times. But Musk is likely to be the biggest beneficiary, given his large stake in the business.
Trillionaire math
Musk owns 4.8 billion shares of SpaceX, or about 42% of the company, as well as 350 million stock options exercisable at $8.39 per share, according to the company’s IPO filing. At $135 a share, Musk’s stake is worth $648 billion. His options add another $44.3 billion to his net worth.
Because Forbes valued Musk’s pre-IPO stake in SpaceX at $500 billion, the IPO sale boosts the value of his SpaceX shares by an additional $192.3 billion, bringing his total net worth to $1.005 trillion.
SpaceX shares touched as high as $168.75 in Friday afternoon trading. At that price, Musk’s stake in SpaceX is worth an additional $366.1 billion, placing his total wealth at roughly $1.18 billion.
That wealth makes Musk richer than the bottom 46% of the world’s population, or a combined 3.8 billion people, Oxfam said.
