Elon Musk didn't make the trip to New York for SpaceX's IPO, but that didn't stop him from becoming the first trillionaire in human history when the stock market bell rang on Friday.
“This is what SpaceX is all about. Taking the fiction out of science fiction. And creating an exciting, inspiring future for everyone,” Musk said in a speech at Starbase, SpaceX's Texas headquarters.
“We want to be able to take anyone who wants to go to the moon, anyone who wants to go to Mars or anywhere in the solar system, and maybe at some point even beyond the solar system. We want to be able to take you there. Not just a few astronauts — I mean you. You, literally,” he continued.
“There are always problems on Earth. There are always problems on Earth. There are always things we want to improve, things we want to solve here on Earth. And we should solve them. But there also have to be things that excite you about the future. Things that make you happy to wake up in the morning. Because you can't wait to see what happens next. And that's the future that SpaceX wants to bring you,” he concluded. he.
WATCH: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk rings the NASDAQ opening bell as the company officially goes public, setting him up to be the world's first trillionaire. pic.twitter.com/ATsyKLUfog
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 12, 2026
Musk, moment of confusion after the Nasdaq Stock Exchange bell rang
Then he rang the bell on the New York Stock Exchange and became the first trillionaire in history, with a fortune estimated at more than $1 trillion thanks to his holdings in SpaceX and Tesla.
Musk rang the bell through a remote system and looked confused for a few seconds as to why it wouldn't go off. SpaceX was represented at the headquarters of the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in New York by Gwynne Shotwell, the company's president and chief operating officer.
Musk chose to have SpaceX listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, not the larger New York Stock Exchange, as the former is traditionally associated with technology and innovation companies.
The stock market opened at 4:30 p.m. Romanian time, and according to Reuters, demand for SpaceX shares has reached such high levels that its valuation is expected to rise to $2.2 trillion during the day.
Elon Musk, more than three times richer than the next billionaire in the ranking
The company had already raised $75 billion in the largest initial public offering of all time. With this valuation, SpaceX entered the exclusive club of companies valued at more than 2 trillion dollars, while Elon Musk took a considerable lead in the ranking of the richest people in the world.
He is now three times richer than the 2nd place holder in the ranking, Larry Page. Bloomberg estimates the Google co-founder's fortune at $304 billion. The podium is completed by Sergey Brin, the other founder of Google, with a fortune of 283 billion dollars.
In fourth place, with a fortune of $264 billion, is Jeff Bezos, one of Musk's biggest rivals through his aerospace company Blue Origin. Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, occupies the fifth position with a fortune of 237 billion dollars.
The top 10 ranking is completed by Michael Dell (211 billion), Mark Zuckerberg (202 billion), Jensen Huang (170 billion), Bernard Arnault (166 billion) and Jim Walton (147 billion).
Frenchman Arnault, the founder and CEO of the luxury conglomerate LVMH, and Walton, the heir to the Walmart empire, are the only ones in the ranking who are not founders or directors of Silicon Valley companies.
