Elon Musk Becomes World’s First Trillionaire

World’s richest man Elon Musk has become the first person ever to reach a net worth of over $1 trillion, following the remarkable stock market debut of his aerospace company, SpaceX.

The billionaire crossed the historic milestone after SpaceX shares jumped 20 percent on their first day of trading.

The strong performance pushed the company’s market value to $2.1 trillion.

SpaceX shares ended trading on Friday at $161 on the Nasdaq, well above the initial public offering (IPO) price of $135.

The listing has been described as the largest stock market debut in history.

Before going public, the company raised $75 billion from investors and the banks involved in the offering.

Celebrating the milestone, SpaceX posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying: “Liftoff! First $SPCX trade complete.”

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk, who is 54 years old, now has an estimated fortune of $1.1 trillion.

His 42 percent ownership stake in SpaceX is valued at about $767.1 billion.

The company entered the market with an estimated valuation of $1.8 trillion.

At the end of trading on Friday, its value had risen enough to make it the sixth-largest publicly traded company in the United States.

Trading under the symbol “SPCX,” SpaceX officially began trading shortly before midday and immediately attracted heavy interest from investors.

Its stock market debut places the company among the world’s most valuable corporations, even though it reported losses of nearly $5 billion last year and earns far less revenue than several technology companies with similar market values.

Speaking before the listing, Musk admitted he once had doubts about the company’s future.

“I gave SpaceX a 10 percent chance of succeeding at all,” he said.

Founded in 2002, SpaceX has grown from a small experimental rocket company into a major force in space exploration, satellite communications and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Its satellite internet service, Starlink, has played a major role in expanding the company’s business beyond rockets, helping it become a broader technology and communications powerhouse.

Elon Musk’s fortune has been built through several companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, xAI and X.

His business journey began with the co-founding of Zip2 and later PayPal.

After purchasing X in October 2022 for $44 billion, Musk introduced new monetisation features on the platform, which helped strengthen his growing business empire.

The entrepreneur also reinvested much of the money he earned from the sales of Zip2 and PayPal into ventures such as Tesla, SpaceX and other ambitious projects.

Today, Musk’s personal wealth is estimated to be nearly equal to the entire annual economic output of countries such as Switzerland and Poland.

KanyiDaily recalls that Elon Musk recently declared that money does not guarantee happiness.