SpaceX market debut mints Musk as first trillionaire

NEW YORK — SpaceX’s stock-market debut on Friday represents a milestone in business history: it made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.

The listing matters for Zambia because the company’s Starlink unit, which sells satellite internet across the country and much of Africa, now has a $2 trillion parent and fresh capital to expand. SpaceX shares jumped about 18% on their first day of trading on the Nasdaq exchange in New York, Al Jazeera reported.

The shares were priced at $135 before trading began, opened near $150 and closed at about $159, leaving SpaceX with a market value of roughly $1.96 trillion — just short of $2 trillion and enough to rank it among the six most valuable companies in the United States. The company sold about 555.6 million shares to raise some $75 billion, one of the largest fundraisings on record.

Musk owns more than 82% of the voting power in SpaceX, so the surge in its value pushed his personal fortune past $1 trillion, a threshold no individual had crossed before. This story is part of Kwacha News’s continuing markets coverage.

What the numbers show

The headline figure is the valuation. At the $135 offer price SpaceX was worth about $1.77 trillion; by the close of its first day the data shows that had risen to roughly $1.96 trillion, a one-day gain of nearly $200 billion in paper value. The float raised about $75 billion, money the company says will fund its Starship rocket programme and the Starlink satellite network.

Demand was heavy. The offering was oversubscribed four times, according to Al Jazeera, and about 70% of the shares set aside for big institutions went to long-term funds and to sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. That mix tells you who now owns a slice of the company that runs Starlink: large state investors from the Gulf, not the retail public.

The business underneath the valuation is less settled. Starlink, the satellite-internet arm, generates about 80% of SpaceX’s revenue, yet the company still posted a loss of about $5 billion last year. The market is paying a $2 trillion price for future growth — in launches, in satellites and in internet subscribers — rather than for current profit.

We would expect SpaceX to see an immediate pop in trading due to the hype around the deal, north of 20 percent perhaps.

— Samuel Kerr, global head of equity capital markets at Mergermarket, before the debut, via <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/6/12/spacex-ipo-debuts-in-us-markets-musk-becomes-worlds-first-trillionaire">Al Jazeera</a>

Why it matters for Zambia

Starlink already operates in Zambia, where it competes with fibre and mobile-data providers to connect homes, farms and businesses that fixed networks never reached. Kwacha News covered SpaceX’s record fundraising and the Starlink-Africa stakes as the listing approached; the debut now turns that plan into capital.

A better-funded Starlink can launch more satellites and add capacity, which over time can mean wider coverage and, potentially, lower prices in markets like Zambia. It also sharpens the competitive squeeze on local internet providers, who must match a global operator with a $2 trillion balance sheet behind it.

There is a dependence point too, familiar from Zambia’s wider push to keep more value at home. Connectivity that arrives by satellite is owned and controlled abroad, and priced in dollars. The same questions Zambia asks about copper and digital payments — covered in Kwacha News’s reporting on cross-border payments through PAPSS — apply to who owns the pipes that carry the country’s internet.

Background

SpaceX, founded by Musk in 2002, builds the Falcon 9 and Starship rockets and runs Starlink, a network of thousands of low-orbit satellites that beam internet to the ground. On the day of the listing, a Falcon 9 launched 29 more Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral, a reminder that the business kept flying while its shares changed hands.

The flotation had been billed as a referendum on Musk himself, whose ventures span SpaceX, the carmaker Tesla and other firms. The four-times-oversubscribed order book and the first-day jump answered that question for now: investors were willing to pay a record price to own part of his rocket and satellite company.

What to watch

The first thing to watch is whether the share price holds. A debut pop driven by hype can fade, and a company losing $5 billion a year will have to show that Starlink subscriptions and launch contracts can grow into the $2 trillion valuation.

The second is Starlink pricing in Africa. With fresh capital and more satellites, the question for Zambian users is whether coverage widens and monthly costs fall, or whether the company holds prices to recover its investment.

The third is regulation. As satellite internet takes a bigger share of Zambia’s market, the decision point for regulators is how to license, tax and oversee an operator headquartered in another country and now answerable to Gulf sovereign funds and public shareholders.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are the questions readers have been asking since SpaceX’s market debut. Short answers follow, drawn from the trading data and Al Jazeera’s reporting.

What is the SpaceX listing?

In short, it is the sale of SpaceX shares to the public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The answer, simply put, is that the company sold about 555.6 million shares at $135 each to raise some $75 billion. The key is that the shares then jumped about 18% on the first day.

How did Elon Musk become a trillionaire?

Simply put, he owns most of SpaceX. Data from the listing shows Musk holds more than 82% of the voting power, so when the market valued SpaceX near $2 trillion, his stake alone pushed his fortune past $1 trillion. The key is that no person had reached that figure before.

What does Starlink have to do with Zambia?

According to prior reporting, Starlink sells satellite internet in Zambia and across Africa, and it is SpaceX’s biggest source of revenue. The analysis shows a richer SpaceX can add satellites and capacity, which research suggests can widen coverage and pressure prices in markets the company serves.

Why is SpaceX worth so much if it loses money?

The answer is expected growth. Evidence from the accounts shows SpaceX lost about $5 billion last year, yet investors paid a near-$2 trillion price, betting that Starlink subscriptions and rocket launches will expand. The key is that the valuation reflects the future, not current profit.

Who bought the shares?

Data from the sale shows the offering was oversubscribed four times, and about 70% of the institutional allocation went to long-term funds and to sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The answer, in other words, is that large state and institutional investors took most of the stock.

Sources

Al Jazeera: SpaceX IPO debuts in US markets, Musk becomes world’s first trillionaire, 12 June 2026. CNBC: SpaceX IPO takeaways and market-cap coverage. Kwacha News coverage: SpaceX’s record raise and the Starlink-Africa stakes and cross-border payments through PAPSS.