SpaceX raised $75bn from financial firms ahead of Friday's Nasdaq debut, selling 555.6 million shares at $135 each in what is expected to be the highest-value stock listing in history. The share price matches the estimate SpaceX gave last week, leaving the firm's expected initial stock market value at nearly $1.8tn, per the BBC. Chief executive 
Elon Musk — already the richest person in the world per the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, worth roughly $696bn before the IPO — is set to officially cement trillionaire status before markets close on Friday, per Al Jazeera.
What's Musk's stake worth? A 42% stake in the rocket-cum-AI company, with estimates of the value ranging from $743bn to $866.5bn at the IPO valuation, per Al Jazeera. Layered onto the existing $696bn Bloomberg-tracked wealth, the public-market validation crosses the $1tn personal-wealth threshold for the first time in history.
Will the price hold above $135? Once shares start trading, their value could rise or fall depending on availability and demand. Investment-fund and retail-investor interest is expected to be high, with Oppenheimer setting a target price of $190 a share against the $135 estimate, per the BBC. If shares sell at or above $135 at open, SpaceX will immediately be one of the most valuable public companies in the world.
What's the listing as a test case? The Nasdaq listing is being viewed by some as a test case for whether public-market appetite for AI- and space-adjacent mega-IPOs is sustained at the trillion-dollar tier. A clean above-price open would unlock the path for other late-stage venture giants to follow; a price-break would tighten that path.
Who is Tom Mueller? SpaceX's first official employee, now founder of Impulse Space, told the BBC's Michelle Fleury that "it's unbelievable" to see what the company has become. Mueller maintains a considerable financial interest in the firm and recalled the early years — first rocket engine running, that engine exploding, another rocket crashing — before the 2008 successful orbital launch.
What's the inequality framing? Al Jazeera framed the listing as catapulting Musk to unprecedented wealth "amid rising angst over global inequality" — the political frame the trillionaire milestone surfaces as it crosses into mass-media coverage. Channel News Asia and the Japan Times both led with the trillionaire framing on their Asian-business desks.
What's next? Trading opens Friday with the $135 reference price the immediate test. The first-day close determines whether Musk officially clears $1tn by the end of the session.
Figures referenced: Elon Musk. — JudgeMarket.
