SpaceXThe record-breaking IPO boosted founder and CEO Elon Musk’s personal stake in the company to more than $1 trillion. But he’s not the only one seeing big benefits from the SpaceX blockbuster lineup.
The IPO also created new billions – and saw the shares of some shareholders pass the billion-dollar mark.
SpaceX’s first week on the public market has seen investors scramble to buy Musk’s ambitions for the company, but subdued sentiment has dampened some of those gains in the past few days.
Earlier in the week, its market cap was exceeded Amazon and – briefly – Microsoft. Thursday’s loss, however, saw SpaceX close to a market cap of $2.43 trillion, falling below the ecommerce giant.
Nevertheless, the shares were still up 37% after their historic debut last week, giving the shares a target price of $135.
From early investors to longtime company executives, CNBC tracked down the few SpaceX shareholders whose shares are worth more than $1 billion using data from FactSet.
Valor Equity Partners
Valor Equity Partners sits on a stake worth $96.6 billion, most of which are clients of the firm.
The firm’s founder and CEO — and Musk’s longtime partner — Antonio Gracias currently serves on SpaceX’s board.
Gracias said he met Musk more than 20 years ago through mutual friend David Sacks, a venture capitalist who until recently served as President Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar.
Valor’s CEO previously sat on the board Tesla and last year spent time working with Musk as part of the Trump Administration’s DOGE effort to reduce federal workers, regulations and government spending.
Luke Nosek
The founder of one of Musk’s previous projects PayPalLuke Nosek has served on the board of SpaceX since 2008. His share in the company is worth $ 6.3 billion.
Nosek co-founded VC firms Founders Fund, alongside Peter Thiel, and Gigafund, and was a board member at AI firm DeepMind before the acquisition Google.
Gwynne Shotwell
One of Musk’s first employees at SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell currently leads the day-to-day running of the company as president and chief operating officer.
Like Nosek, he is one of the largest shareholders in SpaceX, with his stake worth $2.4 billion.
In a sit-down interview with CNBC on Friday, the day of the IPO, Shotwell said: “I feel like I’m there as a partner to help. [Musk] get things done, and I tend to focus on the day-to-day operations of the business, and you focus on high-level strategy, and a deep technical dive.”
“When Elon sets the vision, he’s the one who makes sure it’s delivered,” Nathan Silvernail, who spent seven years at SpaceX as an engineer on projects like life support systems from 2014 to 2021, told CNBC.
He said he is the one responsible for the operation of the business which makes the business continue and bring in money. Shotwell, Silvernail added, “is the one who takes the meetings with the clients, builds those relationships, closes the contracts.”
Bret Johnson
Bret Johnsen is SpaceX’s chief financial officer and joined SpaceX in 2011. He is responsible for the long-term financial strategy and financial performance of the company.
Johnsen previously worked for chip companies Broadcom and Mindspeed Technologies. His share in SpaceX is worth $1.2 billion.
