A year ago, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and xAI were riding high. After a rapid run-up, the private space and AI companies were worth a combined $500bn.
Today, as a leather-jacketed Musk presided over the biggest initial public offering in history from his company’s grandly named Starbase in Texas, those days seemed almost quaint. SpaceX (which absorbed xAI earlier this year) vaulted to an astonishing valuation of more than $2tn as its shares started trading on Wall Street.
For Elon Reeve Musk, immigrant from South Africa, self-appointed tech visionary and social media rabble-rouser, the Wall Street apotheosis was complete. An opening jump of nearly 20 per cent in SpaceX’s share price confirmed him as the world’s first trillionaire, with the tech world seemingly at his feet.