Elon Musk has had almost AUD $1 trillion wiped from his fortune as pressure builds on SpaceX shares – and the pain may not be over.
Elon Musk has had almost AUD $1 trillion shaved off his net worth as SpaceX comes under pressure on multiple fronts after its blockbuster IPO.
Shares in the aerospace and technology company founded by Musk tumbled more than 5 per cent to $124 during Friday’s trading session.
The company has now lost roughly USD $700 billion (AUD $1 trillion) in market cap since the share price fell 45 per cent from the June high of almost $226.
Picture: Supplied/Tradingview
And Musk, whose fortune consists mostly of equity in SpaceX and Tesla, has suffered a USD $600 billion (AUD $859 billion) hit to his net worth.
Just a month ago, shares in SpaceX were snapped up during their initial offering at $135.
The company offered only a small portion of its total outstanding shares to the public – roughly 5 per cent – and surged when public demand collided with limited supply, making Musk the world’s first-ever trillionaire as his net worth surged to USD $1.4 trillion.
He has since lost trillionaire status, but remains by far the richest person on earth, with his fortune hovering at USD $800 billion or AUD $1.1 trillion.
The SpaceX surge made Musk the world’s first trillionaire, but his fortune has since fallen back to USD $800 billion.
Google’s Larry Page (USD $284 billion) and Sergey Brin (USD $262 billion) trail him, followed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos at $257 billion.
Friday’s SpaceX sell-off happened amid broader weakness as the S & P 500 lost more than 1 per cent, with the semiconductor and AI sectors hit particularly hard.
But in addition to AI jitters and risk-off sentiment, SpaceX also has its own unique selling pressures.
There are concerns about a massive supply influx as scheduled unlocks allow insiders and early investors to sell millions of shares, using recent buyers as “exit liquidity”.
While Musk’s massive stake (roughly 42 per cent) remains locked until mid-2027, the exit of thousands of early employees and institutional holders starting in August could keep the price under pressure.
Many employees are now sitting on significant paper wealth, and a large number of them are expected to exercise their options and sell to diversify their portfolios.
The unlocks aren’t the only concern; SpaceX is also pre-profit and bleeding cash.
While its Starlink satellite broadband unit is highly profitable, the broader company reported a $4.9 billion net loss for fiscal year 2025 and accelerating losses in Q1 2026.
SpaceX’s starship rocket requires massive capital spending.
Picture: Supplied/SpaceX
The financial strain stems from its merger with the money-losing AI firm xAI and aggressive capital spending on its Starship rocket and orbital AI data centres.
Similar to Musk’s EV company Tesla, which is currently pivoting toward autonomous robotaxis and AI, SpaceX’s valuation is driven by the promise of future cash flows rather than present-day fundamentals.
Wall Street is mostly bullish on the stock, however, with brokers on average expecting SpaceX shares to be worth $236, pointing to anticipated revenue growth in Starlink, AI compute, and Starship deployment.
Elsewhere on Friday US time, mounting geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran caused a spike in oil prices.
The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.5 per cent, and Netflix slumped more than 7 per cent on disappointing forecasTS.
South Korea’s KOSPI index, which is closely-watched because it is dominated by the memory semiconductor companies Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix – crucial to the AI build-out – plummeted more than 6 per cent.
Confidence in the semiconductor space was pressured further by the unveiling of a new, highly capable AI model from Chinese start-up Moonshot, sparking competition fears.
