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A business newsletter from Globe Columnist Larry Edelman covering the trends shaping business and the economy in Boston and beyond.<\/p>\n
The shares were a significant contributor to the endowment\u2019s 27 percent investment gain in the fiscal year ended June 30, its biggest return since 2021.<\/p>\n
The increase was driven by holdings in venture capital funds, public equities, and hedge funds, according to N.P. \u201cNarv\u201d Narvekar, CEO of Harvard Management, which oversees the endowment. The university\u2019s annual financial report<\/a> last week said some of those venture funds invested in SpaceX in the years before its June initial public offering and distributed shares to Harvard after the deal.<\/p>\n Harvard Management declined to provide details on the SpaceX investment, including when the university first acquired shares and its profit to date.<\/p>\n Why it matters: The sound of silence<\/a> on campus appears to underscore a waning zeal for protests, rather than a softening in opposition to Musk and his close ties to Trump. <\/p>\n After a tumultuous 2024 and 2025, crises this year \u201chave made more noise in the headlines than on our campus, as students have largely gone about their lives as normal,\u201d The Harvard Crimson\u2019s editorial board wrote<\/a> in May.<\/p>\n There\u2019s plenty not to like about Musk, including his abhorrent views on immigration, race, and religion, as well as his blatant attempts to swing elections with huge donations to MAGA candidates. And don\u2019t get me started on the militaristic Cybertruck made by Tesla, where Musk is also CEO.<\/p>\n More recently, he ordered a slowdown<\/a> of a military-grade version of SpaceX\u2019s Starlink internet service relied on by Ukraine, rendering some Ukrainian drones virtually useless as the country tries to fight off Russian air attacks. <\/p>\n But Musk also has many fans, including the venture capital investors who poured money into SpaceX when it was still private. SpaceX has been a big winner<\/a> for other university endowments, too, including those at the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina, Washington University in St. Louis, and Stanford University.<\/p>\n Past isn\u2019t prologue: Harvard has faced sustained pressure on its investments before.<\/p>\n In the spring of 2024, pro-Palestinian protesters camped in Harvard Yard for about three weeks, demanding divestment from companies tied to Israel. Harvard didn\u2019t divest, offering meetings on the endowment instead, and weeks later adopted a policy of institutional neutrality on public statements.<\/p>\n The fossil fuel campaign that began in 2012 lasted nearly a decade. In 2021, then president Lawrence Bacow announced<\/a> the endowment would let its remaining oil and gas investments wind down.<\/p>\n From the late 1970s through the 1980s<\/a>, students blockaded University Hall, rallied by the thousands, and in 1986 built shanties in Harvard Yard as they called on the university to divest from South Africa, then ruled by an apartheid white-minority government.<\/p>\n What they\u2019re saying: \u201cI\u2019m not surprised that there has been no protest,\u201d Steven Pinker, a Harvard psychology professor, said in an email.<\/p>\n \u201cFor one thing, it appears that the holding is substantial only because Harvard (shrewdly, as it turns out) got in early with what may have been a small investment at the time, which became substantial only with SpaceX\u2019s rapid growth. For another, though Musk himself has become an odious character, his companies themselves haven\u2019t engaged in bad things \u2014 SpaceX has brought many benefits (at least in its rockets). But most important, students and activists don\u2019t continuously comb through Harvard\u2019s portfolio company by company and evaluate each one on moral grounds.\u201d <\/p>\n Takeoff: SpaceX, whose businesses include space travel, AI data centers, and Starlink, went public June 11 at $135 a share, amid heavy demand from institutions and individual investors. <\/p>\n The stock immediately soared, reaching nearly $202 a few days later. It has since fallen back but remains up 18 percent from its IPO price.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/J2YDZPS52RPXXENGTBN37TMGUQ.jpg\")
A Tesla Cybertruck.David Paul Morris\/Bloomberg<\/p>\n