Elon Musk has become the world’s first trillionaire, with SpaceX’s long-awaited stock market debut, at $150 per share, propelling the founder and CEO into uncharted financial territory.
Musk has long held the title of the world’s richest man, his fortune now around three times that of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, the next closest competitor.
But the record-breaking IPO of his reusable rocket and satellite company, combined with his position in Tesla, has made him the first ever confirmed member of what Forbes has dubbed the “four-comma club.”
The company, valued at about $1.77 trillion at its IPO price of $135 per share, has been effectively inaccessible to most investors until it began trading on the Nasdaq just before midday on Friday.
Reaching The 13-digit Mark
With shares trading at around $150 shortly after the midday launch, this nudges Musk—who serves as CEO, chairman and chief technical officer—above the 13-digit mark, according to calculations from Bloomberg and Forbes.
On Thursday morning, both agencies estimated that Musk was a few hundred billion shy of trillionaire status, due in part to a monthlong decline in Tesla’s share price, but the company’s record-breaking, $75-billion share offer pushed him closer to the historic feat.
Musk Nears Milestone With Record IPO
According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday, the 24-year-old company raised this amount through the sale of 555.6 million shares at $135 each—a deal which valued SpaceX at around $1.77 trillion and essentially guaranteed Musk’s wealth would surpass $1 trillion once trading commenced on Friday.