SpaceX is now worth $2.5 trillion and the sixth largest public company in the world after shares shot 20 per cent higher overnight.<\/p>\n
Elon Musk\u2019s space exploration and AI company said it raised a record-breaking $85.7 billion, meaning it is now just 5 per cent away from surpassing Amazon as the world\u2019s fifth largest public company. It is now bigger than Broadcom, Saudi Aramco and Tesla. <\/p>\n
The second day of gains cemented SpaceX\u2019s stellar debut on Wall Street, eclipsing the previous largest IPOs and helping make Mr Musk the world\u2019s first trillionaire. <\/p>\n
The stock climbed 19.7 per cent in Monday trading to $192.8, extending Friday\u2019s 19 per cent gain after the shares first started trading on the Nasdaq at $135. <\/p>\n
Demand for SpaceX\u2019s shares was so strong that the banks running the sale exercised a so-called greenshoe option \u2014 in effect permission to sell extra shares when investors want more than planned. <\/p>\n
SpaceX ended up selling nearly 639 million shares, including more than 83 million extra ones, lifting the total raised to $85.7 billion beyond the originally planned $75 billion. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth pointing out that share prices do often fall away after the buzz of its IPO has faded. Investment guru Benjamin Graham, who wrote the seminal book The Intelligent Investor, famously advised individual investors to strictly avoid buying IPOs, arguing that the system is designed to benefit original insiders and investment banks rather than the public. He warned the frenzied scenes after an IPO driven by retail speculators were dangerous and irrational.<\/p>\n
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Not everybody is happy about the success of the SpaceX IPO as protesters gathered for a second day outside the Nasdaq headquarters in New York. There were also protests against Mr Musk in Belfast where he is accused of stoking racial tensions amid rioting.<\/p>\n
Co-founded by Mr Musk in 2002, the rocket startup has since expanded into a major satellite operator and folded in his artificial intelligence company, xAI, which includes the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. <\/p>\n
The towering valuation rests heavily on the belief that Mr Musk will deliver on promises worthy of science fiction, including putting humans on Mars and data centres in space using as-yet unproven technology. <\/p>\n