Elon Musk's SpaceX has surged past Amazon to become the world's fifth most valuable company, days after its record-breaking stock market debut sent shares soaring by more than 50%.
The rocket builder, which joined New York's tech-focused Nasdaq exchange in the biggest public listing ever, is now worth about $2.78tn (£2.1tn), eclipsing Jeff Bezos's retail and media empire at $2.66tn. On Tuesday alone, SpaceX shares rose more than 14%, briefly even overtaking Microsoft.
“SpaceX overtakes Amazon as world's fifth most valuable firm after share price surge, with Musk becoming first trillionaire.”
The boom coincided with SpaceX's announcement that it is buying AI coding start-up Cursor for $60bn, taking over its parent company Anysphere. Cursor's technology uses artificial intelligence to automate code writing, placing it alongside firms like OpenAI and Anthropic in one of the most prominent current uses for AI.
SpaceX has long garnered enthusiasm among investors for its vision of sending AI data centres to space and helping humans colonise Mars. The listing raised $85.7bn and minted Musk as the world's first trillionaire. Shares first sold to the public at $135 each on Friday have since risen to $209.
Yet analysts have questioned the sustainability of that price given the huge uncertainty over future earnings. While Amazon is a household name with vast daily reach, SpaceX is less embedded in the lives of the general public. The revenue and profit gap remains enormous: Amazon made $30.3bn profit in the first quarter of 2026, while SpaceX lost $4.3bn. In 2025, Amazon accrued $716.9bn in sales against SpaceX's $18.67bn.
Venture capitalist Eileen Burbidge told the BBC that many traders appear to be buying into a "well-marketed opportunity" to invest in Musk and his vision rather than SpaceX's financial fundamentals. Dan Sheehan from Telos Wealth Advisors warned that with only around 4% of shares freely tradeable, smaller shareholders may "end up paying a premium for stock now that gets diluted later" if institutional investors eventually sell.
Musk, already the first person to achieve a net worth above $500bn in October 2025, became the world's first trillionaire after the SpaceX IPO in June 2026. The Tesla and X boss, born in Pretoria, South Africa, described his childhood as difficult, affected by his parents' divorce and bullying. He left home for Canada and then the US, studying economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania.
His first wife, Justine Musk, wrote in a 2010 essay: "The will to compete and dominate, that made him so successful in business, did not magically shut off when he came home," adding that he told her while dancing at their wedding: "I am the alpha in this relationship."
Musk has increasingly used his social media platform to air views on current affairs and future of humanity. He helped Donald Trump win the 2024 US presidential election and has drawn criticism from the UK prime minister for his influence on public debate.
SpaceX and Cursor have been partners since April, when Musk's firm announced it had the right to either buy it for $60bn or pay $10bn for work already done. The tie-up comes as SpaceX tries to extend its lead in the race to dominate space and AI.