On June 12, 2026, the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, saw his space exploration technology company SpaceX officially listed on the stock market, making Musk the first trillionaire in the world. The day before, SpaceX completed its largest-ever initial public offering (IPO).
For a newly listed company, SpaceX appears exceptionally mature. Furthermore, it is still rapidly growing. The company’s sales last year reached an astonishing $187 billion, a 33% increase from expectations in 2024. When SpaceX went public on Thursday, it had already raised a record-breaking $750 billion, highlighting investors’ enthusiasm for its business prospects.
The current market environment is favorable for SpaceX’s listing. Global stock market indices are generally rising, with the U.S. stock market mostly on an upward trend. Due to hopes for a peaceful resolution of the U.S.-Iran conflict, oil prices have dropped to their lowest levels since the beginning of the Iran war.
On Friday morning, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and CFO Bret Johnsen were in New York, while Musk was in Texas, together ringing the opening bell of the Nasdaq stock market. SpaceX’s stock trading was scheduled to begin later that day.
At the same time, Musk, along with his loyal supporters and employees, gathered at the Starbase in Texas, a SpaceX facility, to celebrate the company’s listing.
According to CNN, on Friday morning, a crowd gathered outside the Times Square Nasdaq exchange, with one person wearing a spacesuit.
“Is Elon coming? Are we all waiting for this?” he asked.
Maye Musk, Elon Musk’s mother, was the first member of the Musk family to be photographed arriving at Nasdaq to attend SpaceX’s debut.
The Musk family has close ties to Elon Musk’s companies, as his brother Kimbal is a board member of Tesla.
In the lead-up to SpaceX’s historic listing on Friday, trading volume in stock options related to SpaceX surged.
According to data from Cboe’s LiveVol, EchoStar, holding around 3% of SpaceX shares, saw its stock price soar by 11% on Thursday. AST SpaceMobile also experienced a 12% increase in its stock price on Thursday, with option trading volume close to $140 million.
In early trading on Friday, EchoStar’s stock price continued to rise by 5%, and AST SpaceMobile also saw gains in pre-market trading.