Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire last Friday after shares in his rocket company, SpaceX, began trading on the Nasdaq stock market. SpaceX shares rose sharply after the company went public, increasing Musk’s estimated wealth to about US$1.1 trillion, according to Forbes.
SpaceX was founded in 2002 and is known for building rockets that can be used again. Musk said the company is going public because it needs money for big space plans, including satellites, space data centres and one day a human colony on Mars. He said SpaceX wants to help make life “multiplanetary”, meaning people could live beyond Earth.
The company raised US$75 billion from its share sale, which was more than the previous record set by Saudi Aramco in 2019. However, SpaceX is still losing large amounts of money, including US$8.7 billion between the start of 2025 and March 31, 2026. Some experts believe the company’s share price is too high because many of its future plans have not yet been proven.
Musk has built his fortune through companies such as Zip2, PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX. Tesla has made strong gains for investors since it went public in 2010, but some people are worried about how much power Musk has in his companies. Even so, many investors are excited by SpaceX’s future and its bold plans for space travel.
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