SpaceX shares began to be traded on the stock exchange and consolidated Elon Musk as the first trillionaire in history. Still, the businessman, today the richest person in the world, spends much of his time in a simple house near the company’s headquarters, in south Texas.
The rocket and satellite company raised $75 billion on Thursday in the biggest IPO on record, after selling more than 555 million shares at $135 each. The operation valued SpaceX at US$1.77 trillion. On Friday, the shares rose 20%, to US$162, taking Musk to the level of a trillionaire when considering his stake in SpaceX, his options and also his stake in Tesla.
Even with his record fortune, Musk’s real estate portfolio is relatively modest. After moving to Texas in 2020 and selling most of his California homes, he purchased neighboring properties in an upscale area outside Austin for about $35 million. But Musk himself revealed, in 2021, that his main residence is a US$50,000 house in Boca Chica, Texas, rented from SpaceX itself, whose headquarters are at neighboring Starbase, near Brownsville.
According to the website Chron.comthe residence is a prefabricated house measuring around 37 square meters, built by the startup Boxabl, with a living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom with bathtub and shower. In contrast, companies linked to Musk own at least three large houses in West Lake Hills, an upscale suburb of Austin, each with between 550 and 830 square meters and a swimming pool, according to sources heard by the Wall Street Journal.
In 2023, biographer Walter Isaacson published an image of the interior of the property and described the house as a spartan two-bedroom space, where Musk often sat at a wooden table to make connections. In March of this year, the businessman’s mother, Maye Musk, told more about her son’s unglamorous lifestyle. “There’s no food in the fridge. The garage where I slept is on the right. There was only a towel in the shower, so I left it for Elon,” he wrote in a post on X.
Known for being obsessed with work, Musk usually lives close to his companies, especially at decisive moments. He already slept at the Tesla factory in California, during the period when the automaker was facing difficulties adjusting Model 3 production.
Continues after advertising
SpaceX is also going through a crucial phase, with the development of the next generation of the Starship rocket, a central piece for the company’s future. The V3 version, fully reusable, will be larger than the previous ones and will be able to carry up to 100 tons, well above the 35 tons of the V2 version.
The new Starship should play a relevant role in the return of astronauts to the Moon in the coming years and also in Musk’s plans to install artificial intelligence data centers in space. The model’s first test flight, last month, was considered mostly successful.
Musk’s fortune could still grow further if SpaceX meets extremely ambitious goals. He could receive up to 200 million additional class B shares if the company reaches a market value of US$7.5 trillion and builds a colony on Mars with 1 million inhabitants.
Continues after advertising
Another trigger foresees the delivery of an additional 60 million shares if the valuation reaches US$6.6 trillion and SpaceX implements a network of space data centers with a computing capacity of 100 terawatts.
Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 to challenge Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s dominance in the space launch market. Even though it is relatively young, the company quickly took the lead in the sector. By developing reusable rockets capable of landing autonomously, the company has drastically reduced costs and accelerated the pace of launches, making low Earth orbit more accessible to different customers.
Last year, SpaceX accounted for more than 50% of the world’s rocket launches and already maintains around 10,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, providing satellite internet for companies and the armed forces.
Continues after advertising
The company is one of the main partners of NASA and the Pentagon, which also sees the company as a potential player in the development of the “Golden Dome” anti-missile shield, defended by President Donald Trump.
SpaceX’s revenue grew more than 30% last year, to US$18.7 billion, but the bottom line turned into a loss of US$4.9 billion, as xAI’s losses advanced to US$6.4 billion. Starlink more than doubled its profit, to US$4.4 billion.
Even before it hit the stock exchange, SpaceX’s valuation was already skyrocketing in the private market. In December, the company was valued at US$800 billion after insiders sold shares. In April, secondary negotiations in the private market indicated a value of US$ 1.54 trillion. Now, that number has reached $1.7 trillion.
Continues after advertising
2026 Fortune Media IP Limited
