SpaceX could end up in your retirement account next.
When SpaceX’s initial public offering debuted on June 12, it broke a Wall Street record as the highest-valued IPO in financial history, raising over $75 billion in cold, hard cash. The Frankensteined amalgamation of Elon Musk’s aerospace and AI ventures is now one of the world’s largest-traded companies, with a public valuation hovering around $2 trillion.
Since xAI is bundled inside SpaceX, this also marks the first time an AI giant has entered the public market, beating out competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic.
After years of private tech firms closing the books on public investment, a wave of fresh IPOs has sparked a frenzy among retail investors hungry for a piece of the biggest companies in the world.
That fever is what made SpaceX’s public stock offering a rousing success on the first day of trading. Shares soared far past their opening price of $135, surging 19% to $161 by the closing bell. Over the last several weeks, share prices have risen and fallen with daily volatility.
Whether you planned to be financially involved with an AI company or a Musk business venture, you might not have a choice in the matter. SpaceX stock is likely going to end up in your retirement account, and potentially millions of children’s savings accounts. Here’s everything you need to know.
Once SpaceX was publicly listed, Musk became the world’s first trillionaire.
Musk became the world’s first trillionaire (then he wasn’t)
Musk, the CEO and largest shareholder of SpaceX and Tesla, is the first person in the world to reach a net worth of over $1 trillion, though his trillionaire status depends on the day of the week.
At its highest point since the SpaceX IPO, Musk’s net worth was $1.32 trillion. But the former DOGE head’s stratospheric level of wealth is largely tied to Tesla and SpaceX stock, which fluctuate in value. After stocks fell on June 23, his net worth dropped to $957 billion. Musk recently regained his trillionaire status.
Musk also lays claim to tangible assets — SpaceX’s aerospace hardware, Starlink satellites, AI servers and the X social media platform, combined with Tesla’s automobiles, solar panels and experiments in robot technology — which all tally up value on company balance sheets.
Tied to Musk’s wealth is his nearly cultlike image as a visionary with an outsize influence on markets, culture and politics. Though many of Musk’s promises never materialize, he routinely makes lofty claims about sending crewed missions to colonize Mars, producing fully self-driving cars and creating robots akin to “your own personal R2 unit.”
SpaceX stock has seen expected volatility
Ahead of SpaceX’s public debut last month, major institutions like JPMorgan warned that SpaceX would be a volatile roller coaster ride, due in part to the disconnect between the company’s massive cash burn on AI data centers versus its lofty revenue promises.
SpaceX’s gains accelerated after Day 1, with the stock reaching an all-time high of $225.64 per share on June 16. Facing rough market conditions, the stock then tumbled, wiping out previous gains before settling around $154 per share on June 22. By the end of June, SpaceX stock had begun slowly clawing back some of its losses, hovering around $170.
CNN reported that SpaceX has consistently ranked among the top two most traded stocks each day since the IPO.
SpaceX will soon debut on the Nasdaq-100. That will legally require shares to be purchased and added to the retirement accounts of millions.
SpaceX could be in your retirement account soon
SpaceX stock could soon end up in millions of 401(k) retirement accounts, even if you never chose to invest in it. A recent Nasdaq rule change allowed Musk to circumvent the usual 12-month vetting period for SpaceX’s inclusion, clearing the way for the company to enter the Nasdaq-100 before the market opens on July 7.
A video report from More Perfect Union alleges that Musk strong-armed SpaceX into being automatically purchased by index funds. Critics have argued that this move quietly shifts the risk onto everyday families and retirees, whose investment accounts will take a hit when the market dips. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate (PDF), warning the move set a “dangerous precedent” for future public offerings.
Analysts like former economic advisor Jared Bernstein say that avoiding such exposure may be difficult because index fund structures make it hard for you to opt out. “These tech bros are using their immense market clout to jam these potentially volatile and heretofore profitless assets into millions of retirement accounts,” wrote Bernstein on Substack.
Musk is still firmly in charge
As SpaceX’s largest shareholder, Elon Musk owns roughly 42% of SpaceX’s outstanding shares. Even without owning a majority of the equity, that stake translates into control.
Much of Musk’s ownership comes in the form of super-voting shares, giving him 85% of the voting power and a decisive influence over SpaceX’s future.
This level of power stands out in Big Tech. Many Silicon Valley founders, like billionaires Bill Gates and Peter Thiel, have completely divested themselves of their initial brainchildren. Others have significantly reduced their stakes: Mark Zuckerberg owns 13% of Meta, while Sergey Brin owns 6% of Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
Solo investors were unusually well-represented in the buyout of SpaceX’s IPO shares.
Retail investors were pulled into the mix
When a large company goes public, most shares are typically gobbled up by Wall Street power players and institutions: banks, hedge funds and mutual funds. A small amount of the shares, usually around 10%, is usually carved out for retail investors, i.e. everyday people who buy and sell investments for themselves.
SpaceX stood out by carving out a much larger share — 30% — to retail investors. But that didn’t necessarily translate into broader access. Financial Times editor Robin Wigglesworth noted that an unusually large retail allocation can signal weak demand from professional investors. The problem is that when shares are spread out, the burden shifts to less sophisticated buyers, who then have to absorb SpaceX’s wild valuation swings.
Despite the larger retail investor carveout, demand still outpaced supply, and there weren’t enough shares to go around to everyday investors during the IPO, according to CNBC. Some chose to sell immediately on the first day, a factor that may have contributed to SpaceX’s sky-high trading rate.
SpaceX hasn’t actually posted any profits
SpaceX is pulling in huge revenue, but it’s still operating at a loss. The Information reported that although the company generated more than $18.5 billion in revenue in 2025, Musk’s aerospace and AI company still lost nearly $5 billion.
A major reason is massive spending on “chips and data centers” to power xAI projects, which reportedly cost SpaceX $13 billion last year. Depreciation of rockets, satellites and other aerospace equipment accounted for another $6.6 billion in expenses.
Regardless of its negative cash flow, market enthusiasm for SpaceX shows it’s still valued like a future powerhouse. That disconnect reflects a broader pattern in tech and AI in particular, where expectations are high even when profits are thin. Musk’s soaring net worth is part of the same “vibes-based accounting,” where market hype outruns actual financial results.
Musk showed up to rallies for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, fostering a working relationship between the two wealthy elites.
Musk and SpaceX could boost Trump, again
Musk’s relationship with President Donald Trump could be warming again, at least enough for SpaceX to surface in talks around the administration’s new Trump financial accounts for kids. Semafor reported that officials have discussed donating SpaceX stock to seed the accounts.
Trump accounts are designed as custodial, IRA-style investment accounts for children, intended to nudge the next generation to participate in the stock market. Some supporters see them as a way to encourage long-term investing, while critics are raising concerns that the accounts will disproportionately benefit well-off American families.
Tensions between Musk and Trump have appeared to ease in recent months, following a very public falling-out and a social media scuffle over the White House’s budget bill last year. If SpaceX stock ends up inside those accounts, it would give the program a very direct link to Musk and a highly visible role in a politically backed investment push.
SpaceX may have sent a red flag to OpenAI
SpaceX’s record-breaking debut may have shaken OpenAI’s plan to go public. According to the New York Times, CEO Sam Altman had been exploring an IPO as soon as this year, with bankers and lawyers pushing for a valuation near $1 trillion. Now it’s more likely that OpenAI will wait until 2027 to make its publicly traded debut, according to people involved in the deliberations.
While it’s impossible to nail down an exact reason for the change of heart, pushing forward with an AI IPO in a market skeptical of SpaceX’s high-flying valuation could be what’s spooking Altman. OpenAI’s advisors have also reportedly cautioned the company against moving too soon, warning that it lacks the built-in Musk-driven attention that helped fuel SpaceX’s market debut.
Institutional investors, who form the backbone of any public offering, may not react as enthusiastically to a less established company that’s also operating at a massive financial loss. And after experiencing market volatility associated with the SpaceX IPO, retail investors might not be quick to open their wallets for OpenAI either.
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