SpaceX goes public. Record IPO, while Musk could become the first “billionaire” in history.
It’s the long-awaited day. Today SpaceX officially makes its debut on the Nasdaq, and it does so in style, because the initial public offering of the aerospace giant of Elon Musk it became the largest in history.
The richest man in the world can now count on two stock market heavyweights: Tesla and SpaceX.
The entry into the stock market
For what it was the largest IPO in history SpaceX put 555.6 million shares on the market at a fixed price of $135 each, raising about $75 billion.
Underwriters also have the option to purchase an additional 83.3 million shares at the same price, for an additional $11.2 billion.
All the major players in American finance were involved in this gargantuan operation: Goldman Sachs led the placement consortium together with Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.
The evaluation of 1,770 billion of dollars makes SpaceX bigger than Tesla from day one, which capitalizes “only” 1,600 billion. Which means that SpaceX will immediately position itself as the seventh company by capitalization in the United States.
Another element out of the ordinary concerns the structure of the offer, because SpaceX has reserved about 30% of its public shares for retail investorsa share three times higher than the average for large IPOs, which is between 5% and 10%.
On the other hand, investor demand has largely exceeded available supply, with orders collected approaching $250 billion, a level of subscription that is simply unprecedented in the history of financial markets.
Will Musk become the first “billionaire” in history?
With the listing of SpaceX, Elon Musk is approaching a milestone that no human being has ever achieved in the modern era: a personal wealth exceeding one trillion dollars.
According to Forbes’ real-time tracker, Musk’s net worth stood at approximately $788.8 billion on the eve of the debut. His share in SpaceX alone is worth 866.5 billion dollars, which, added to his holdings in Tesla and other assets, should bring the total assets over 1,100 billion.
Of course, it is worth noting that historians and economists recall how, in absolute terms, some figures from the past were proportionally richer than Musk (relative to the economy of their time), such as Emperor Augustus or Mansa Musa of Mali.
But in nominal values and in current dollars, no one has ever come close to this figure. After the offering, Musk will retain more than 82% of voting rights in the company, consolidating near-absolute control over SpaceX.
Thousands of millionaire employees
There is also a very interesting story behind the SpaceX IPO. Because it will not only enrich its founder.
According to an analysis by the investment platform Hill.com cited by the New York Times, in fact, more than 4,400 SpaceX employees and former employees will become millionaires thanks to the listing. Of these, around 400 are expected to have stock portfolios exceeding $100 million.
SpaceX has in fact historically paid workers at all levels (including cooks, welders, canteen staff, etc.) with stock options instead of higher cash wages, a bet on the company’s long-term value that finally pays off today.
It is no coincidence that a group of over one hundred employees and former employees decided to establish an asset management agreement with the consultancy firm Choreo.
In fact, there are mechanisms lock-upaimed at preventing an immediate sale of the shares. Paper wealth will then gradually become real wealth as the lock-in periods expire.
At this moment we would not like to be in the shoes of those who years ago, as reported by the New York Times, gave up theirs stock options in exchange for restaurant gift certificates. A regret that today is worth, literally, millions of dollars.
