A controlled explosion is what SpaceX’s stock market debut last Friday could be called. The group, which has yet to make its first profit, was worth 2 trillion (2,000 billion) dollars at the end of the day after an increase of 19 percent. Entrepreneur Elon Musk, based on his share in SpaceX and his interest in his other company Tesla, became the first known person in history with a private fortune of more than a trillion dollars on paper. On Monday, SpaceX opened 6 percent higher on Wall Street.
An IPO is in a sense a form of democratization. Instead of private shareholders, who determine the value of a company in successive financing rounds, after an IPO that role is now reserved for a large and fickle audience of small and large investors. From now on, they determine from second to second how much they want to pay for the shares.
In the case of SpaceX, that says most. Only 5 percent of the shares in the group have been put on the market and are freely tradable. CEO Musk himself has shares with enhanced voting rights, meaning he has four-fifths of control. Even determining the launch price of the SpaceX share, normally a process of consultation between the accompanying banks, was different. Musk himself determined in advance that it would be $135.
Musk has a lot of power not only because of his capital. He also receives this from those around him
In this way, the star entrepreneur bent customs to his will. And those around him did the rest on their own initiative. Selling quickly on the first trading day was hardly an option: there were heavy sanctions on top of the usual restrictions that apply to the banks involved and existing shareholders. Private investors were strongly discouraged from selling their shares immediately, under penalty of exclusion from future IPOs. The banks involved, together almost the entire Wall Street elite, largely kept their own assessment of the stock to themselves. Nasdaq, the American stock exchange where many technology shares are listed, shortened the period and increased the weighting at which SpaceX is included in its stock market index, after which anyone who consciously or unconsciously invests in that index must automatically also buy SpaceX.
Thus, the person Musk, without a doubt one of the most visionary entrepreneurs of modern times, has a lot of power not only because of his capital. He also receives this from those around him. And he also uses that power politically. For example, on his own social media platform X – part of SpaceX – he supports and encourages far-right movements in European politics. He single-handedly used the demolition hammer against American civil service in the first months of President Trump’s current term.
You can agree or disagree with the worldview behind it – as long as it remains within the boundaries of the law. Things will be different when this is actively propagated and promoted without any inhibitions by the (influential) richest man on the planet today. One billionaire in politics already makes people nervous. Musk is now a thousand in person. Just stop that.