Elon Musk’s SpaceX has surged past Amazon to become the world’s fifth most valuable company, just days after its stock market debut, propelled by a $60bn (£44bn) acquisition of the startup behind the AI coding app Cursor.
Shares in the company soared more than 14% on Tuesday, briefly lifting its valuation to $2.97tn – leaping over Amazon’s $2.65tn – before easing to a 5% gain at the close and a market cap of $2.66tn, still ahead of the e-commerce giant.
“Elon Musk's SpaceX overtakes Amazon as world's fifth most valuable company days after $60bn AI acquisition.”
The milestone came as SpaceX, the parent of Musk’s AI business xAI, agreed to buy Anysphere, the San Francisco-based owner of Cursor. The deal, which had been in the works for months, gives xAI access to an AI-powered coding tool that has proven a strong commercial success for rival Anthropic. According to Harrison Rolfes, an analyst at PitchBook, “owning the tool that professional developers already trust daily is a faster path to enterprise AI.” He added that while the acquisition would not “close the gap” with Anthropic and OpenAI, it made sense to gain access to Cursor’s more than 1 million users.
SpaceX floated at $135 a share on Friday and its stock has risen by approximately 50% since. The listing made Musk, the company’s founder and chief executive, the world’s first trillionaire, with Forbes estimating his fortune at $1.3tn.
Despite the market euphoria, SpaceX’s financials remain heavily skewed toward its unprofitable ventures. The group includes the rocket company, social media platform X, and the satellite maker Starlink – the only profitable division. SpaceX lost $4.9bn in 2025 on revenues of $18.7bn. By contrast, Amazon posted revenues of $717bn and net income of $78bn.
Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman noted that the strong value of SpaceX’s stock was a boon for the company, as it would require fewer shares to pull off large acquisitions such as Anysphere. The deal had been structured with an option: either buy Cursor for $60bn later this year or pay $10bn for a partnership – SpaceX chose the former.
For Musk, the acquisition and market surge cement his dominance in both space and artificial intelligence, with xAI now poised to integrate Cursor’s technology into its own offerings. Wall Street will be watching closely to see whether the splashy entry can translate into sustainable profits.