On Friday 12 June 2026, Elon Musk pressed the button to begin trading on his rocket company SpaceX on the Nasdaq stock exchange as Elton John's Rocket Man played. By the end of the day, he had become the world's first trillionaire, with a net worth of $1.11tn (£828bn) according to the Bloomberg rich list. The milestone has sparked debate about wealth inequality and the growing influence of the world's richest man.
Musk is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, an aerospace and artificial intelligence company that was founded in 2002 and remained private for nearly 25 years. Its initial public offering (IPO) was the largest in history, raising $75bn from investors before shares hit the open market. Shares were offered at $135 each but opened at $150, briefly reaching $176.50 before closing at about $161, giving SpaceX a valuation of $2.1tn. Musk owns 42% of SpaceX, worth $767.1bn at close of trade, plus $53.8bn in SpaceX options. He also holds $168bn in Tesla shares and $116.4bn in Tesla options.
“Explains how Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire after SpaceX's record IPO and what it means.”
The journey to trillionaire status has been decades in the making. SpaceX was started in a warehouse in El Segundo, California, with Musk's vision of making humanity multiplanetary. Tom Mueller, co-founder and employee number one, told the BBC it was hard to believe the company is now public with such a huge valuation. Musk also founded Tesla, brain implant maker Neuralink and tunneling startup The Boring Company, and bought Twitter (now X) for $44bn. His wealth is almost entirely tied to stockholdings, meaning he is a trillionaire only on paper and cannot sell any SpaceX stock for at least a year.
For UK readers, Musk's trillionaire status matters because of the political power it brings. He gave hundreds of millions to Donald Trump's re-election campaign and led the Department for Government Efficiency (Doge), which cut US government spending and closed USAID. The Lancet medical journal warned those cuts could cause more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030. Musk has also clashed with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over issues including immigration and the murder of 18-year-old British student Henry Nowak. Democratic US senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren condemned the trillionaire milestone, with Warren calling it a 'wake up call' and arguing for wealth taxes.
Q: How is Elon Musk's wealth calculated? Musk's net worth is based on the value of his stockholdings in SpaceX, Tesla and other companies, as tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Most of his fortune is tied up in shares, not cash, so it can fluctuate with stock prices.
Q: Why does SpaceX's stock market debut matter? SpaceX's IPO was the largest in history, valuing the company at over $2tn. It made Musk the first trillionaire and signals investor enthusiasm for space and AI businesses. The listing also created many millionaires among early employees and investors.
Q: What are the concerns about such extreme wealth? Critics argue that Musk's $1.11tn fortune is similar to the entire economic output of Poland or Switzerland, highlighting global inequality. They point to his influence over politics and policy, and his refusal to fund projects like ending world hunger despite previous offers. Wealth tax advocates say the milestone shows the need for reform.
What happens next? Musk cannot sell his SpaceX shares for at least a year. Other AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic have also filed to go public this year and are expected to raise record sums. The political debate over wealth inequality and the power of billionaires is likely to intensify, especially as Musk remains a divisive figure in both US and UK politics.