The world’s richest person, Elon Musk, became the world’s first trillionaire on Friday after shares of his rocket company SpaceX surged 11 per cent to $150 on their first day of trading on the stock market and later climbed to around $172, giving the company a market value of $2.18 trillion.
Musk became a trillionaire after the initial public offering price of SpaceX shares jumped from $135 to $150. His current net worth comprises his stocks in SpaceX and clean energy company Tesla. He also has ownership stakes in other ventures, including Neuralink, the neurotechnology company co-founded by Musk and a tunnel firm he founded, The Boring Company.
Musk became the richest person in the world after surpassing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in January 2021 when his net worth jumped past $185 billion after Tesla shares surged.
Why SpaceX Went Public
The Tesla chief said SpaceX is going public because it needs money for its ambitions to put satellites and data centres in space and to eventually establish a colony of people on Mars.
He reiterated his lofty goals “to make life multi-planetary”.
“Not just a few astronauts, I mean literally you”, Musk said. “Whoever you are watching this, SpaceX wants to be able to take you to the moon, take you to Mars and ultimately beyond.”
In addition to establishing a one-million person Martian colony, the company has promised to save humanity by establishing other outposts in space, launch data centers the size of football fields into orbit and outdo rivals Anthropic and OpenAI in the race to make money from artificial intelligence.
To reach its goals, SpaceX needs billions more than it currently takes in from its rocket and satellite business. Between the start of 2025 and March 31, 2026, the company lost $8.7 billion.
When Musk Said Money Will Be “Irrelevant”
Last year, Musk said that currency will become “irrelevant” and jobs will be “optional”.
Musk said that artificial intelligence and humanoid robots will be so productive that money will eventually become irrelevant, most jobs will turn into optional hobbies, and poverty will be eliminated.
