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SpaceX made a stellar entrance into public markets on Friday, with shares surging as much as 30% intraday before closing up 19% in a blockbuster debut that minted Elon Musk as the world’s first trillionaire and delivered massive gains to early investors and employees.

The rocket company’s stock opened at $150 per share on the Nasdaq — already 11% above its $135 IPO pricing from Thursday — and climbed as high as $176 in midday trading. That peak briefly pushed SpaceX’s market capitalization to nearly $2.3 trillion. Shares ultimately settled at $160.95 by the closing bell, marking a strong first-day pop for one of the most anticipated public offerings in years.

The enthusiastic reception came as little surprise to market watchers. According to Bloomberg, the IPO was oversubscribed by four times, leaving many institutional investors without allocations and eager to buy on the open market. Demand was further fueled by an extremely limited public float — just 4% of shares available for trading — with the vast majority still held by early investors and employees.

SpaceX also secured regulatory wins that will accelerate its inclusion in major indexes. The company successfully lobbied for faster entry into benchmarks like the Nasdaq 100, allowing it to join in days rather than months. That move is expected to trigger automatic buying from index funds and large institutions, providing additional tailwinds for the stock.

Trading platforms felt the frenzy firsthand. Robinhood reported “record-breaking” traffic in the hours following the debut, reflecting broad retail investor excitement around the milestone event.

The listing represents one of the largest wealth-creation events in venture capital history. Founders Fund, which invested $600 million for a roughly 3% stake, is sitting on gains estimated at more than $50 billion at the IPO price alone. Andreessen Horowitz’s position is now valued at over $10 billion, while Sequoia’s stake exceeds $20 billion, reported Tech Crunch.

For Musk, the opening trade at $150 crossed a historic threshold, making the SpaceX and Tesla CEO the world’s first trillionaire. The windfall extended deep into the company’s ranks: The New York Times reported that approximately 4,400 current and former employees have become millionaires from their equity holdings, with around 400 reaching centimillionaire status.

SpaceX’s public debut caps years of explosive growth for the company, which has transformed from a scrappy startup into a dominant force in commercial spaceflight, satellite internet, and reusable rocket technology. With Friday’s performance, it joins an elite group of trillion-dollar public companies and sets the stage for what could be one of the defining market stories of the decade.

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