Topline
SpaceX on Friday promoted a series of merchandise celebrating its trading debut and record-setting initial public offering that made CEO Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, with products ranging from a $125 bell to apparel that claims, “The future is public.”
“The future is public,” a newly listed T-shirt reads.
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
SpaceX’s merchandise website includes eight new items as of Friday, including some apparel, a tote bag ($45) and patch ($15) embossed with the SPCX ticker and two T-shirts that read, “The future is public.”
Among the new items is a bell shaped like SpaceX’s Raptor rocket engine, an apparent reference to SpaceX executives participating in the Nasdaq’s bell-ringing ceremony Friday morning, with preorders valued at $125.
Shares of SpaceX are up 21% since trading opened for the stock shortly before noon, rising from $150 to just over $164.
forbes valuation
Musk is by far the world’s richest person with a net worth of $1.1 trillion, according to Forbes’ estimates. Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin rank second and third with fortunes of $294.8 billion and $271.9 billion, respectively, the latter of which is just 24% of Musk’s. Musk owns 4.8 billion shares of the rocketmaker, valued at $715 million, and another 350 million stock options with an exercise price of $8.40 per share, worth $50 billion, bringing his total stake to about $765 billion. Forbes previously estimated Musk’s 40% stake at around $500 billion.
key background
SpaceX’s highly anticipated initial public offering raised a record $75 billion at $135 per share, valuing the firm at $1.77 trillion, making it the largest-ever debut. A surge after shares opened on Friday further extended SpaceX’s market value ($2.1 trillion) ahead of Musk’s Tesla, valued at $1.4 trillion. The IPO was criticized by some analysts and lawmakers who argued shareholders would be negatively affected by Musk’s voting power, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to delay the debut and said Musk was granted an “unprecedented level of power” over investors. Morningstar analysts wrote earlier this week that SpaceX will trade at $63 per share, roughly half of its IPO price, and “Big Short” investor Michael Burry wrote there was “nothing” in SpaceX’s IPO filing suggesting the company was worth $1 trillion, “let alone $2 trillion.”
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