SpaceX’s huge debut on Nasdaq a week ago lifted founder and CEO Elon Musk’s personal stake in the company to more than $1 trillion, making him the first trillionaire in history. But Musk was not the only winner: the listing created thousands of new millionaires and pushed some large shareholders past the $1 billion mark. CNBC highlighted several of the biggest beneficiaries, using FactSet data.
Investor enthusiasm was intense in SpaceX’s first week, as buyers rushed in to buy into Musk’s ambitious vision. That momentum cooled in recent days, trimming gains. Over the past week, SpaceX’s market value briefly topped Amazon’s and, for a short time, Microsoft’s. On Thursday, after a drop in trading, the company closed at a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, slipping back below Amazon. Even so, the stock remained up 37% from last Friday’s historic market debut, when shares opened at $135.
Among the largest private shareholders is Valor Equity Partners, whose holding is valued at about $96.6 billion, most of it owned by clients of the fund. The firm’s founder and CEO, Antonio Gracias, is also a longtime Musk ally and now serves on SpaceX’s board. Gracias said he met Musk more than 20 years ago through their mutual friend David Sacks, the venture capitalist who until recently served as President Donald Trump’s “AI and crypto czar.” Gracias previously sat on Tesla’s board and last year worked with Musk on the Trump administration’s DOGE effort to reduce federal staffing, regulation and government spending.
Luke Nosek, a cofounder of PayPal and a SpaceX board member since 2008, has a stake worth $6.3 billion. He is a cofounder of the venture capital firms Founders Fund, with Peter Thiel, and Gigafund, and formerly served on DeepMind’s board before Google bought it. Gwynne Shotwell, one of the first employees Musk hired at SpaceX and now the company’s president and chief operating officer, holds shares worth $2.4 billion. In a CNBC interview on the day of the offering, she said, “I see myself as a partner helping Musk achieve what needs to get done. I tend to focus on the day-to-day management of the business, while he focuses on the overall strategy and deep dives into the technology.” SpaceX chief financial officer Bret Johnsen, who joined in 2011 after jobs at Broadcom and Mindspeed Technologies, has a stake worth $1.2 billion.
