While the richest man on Earth gets richer, there is more than one way this could all affect you. Catch up below. SpaceX shares finished the day at a higher price than they began the day. It’s 4 pm in New York, and the dust is now settling on a big opening day for SpaceX on the stock exchange. (Photo: Elon Musk).

We can now bring you the final score after some fluctuations in the company’s share price since the first bell rang. SpaceX opened at $150 a share before rising to around $168. It finished the day at just above $161.

That price gave the company a market value of $2.1trn, making it the sixth largest public US company – bigger even than Elon Musk’s other firm, Tesla. Between his holdings in SpaceX and Tesla, where he is also chief executive, Musk is now worth an estimated $1.1trn, according to Forbes.

Why has SpaceX gone public? Elon Musk says SpaceX needs money to fund its ambitions to put satellites and data centres into space. He eventually wants to establish a colony of people on Mars. Today, he reiterated his lofty goals “to make life multi-planetary”.

“Not just a few astronauts, I mean you literally,” Musk said. “Whoever you are watching this, SpaceX wants to be able to take you to the moon, take you to Mars and ultimately beyond.”

Two more tech titans are waiting in the wings – SpaceX’s debut is widely regarded ​as a dress rehearsal for a new generation of mega-listings, ahead of forthcoming IPOs for AI heavyweights Anthropic and OpenAI.

Both confidentially filed for US initial public offerings in June. Confidential submissions let companies advance IPO preparations while shielding sensitive financial details from rivals and the public.

SpaceX’s stock performance has been closely scrutinised in part because some bankers said the IPO market could ​face difficulties if SpaceX shares close below yesterday’s pricing level of $135 a share.

Elon Musk Becomes World’s First Dollar Trillionaire

By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, business and economics reporter

The world has its first dollar trillionaire. As SpaceX shares rise higher, hitting $158.51, Elon Musk’s wealth has passed $1trn.  As the majority shareholder, owning more than 41% of SpaceX, Musk is the biggest beneficiary of the rising share price.

Since yesterday, Forbes has had Musk’s net worth at $981.2bn and as the richest person in the world.  But more valuable SpaceX shares push up that wealth. Musk may be the richest person to have ever lived. He is now about as wealthy as Switzerland and Saudi Arabia.

‘Dark Day for Democracy’

A trillion can be conceptualised by recalling that one million seconds is 11.5 days. A billion seconds is more than 31 years, while a trillion seconds is 31,689 years. The $1trn figure is about £745.6bn.  Responding to the figures, the non-governmental organisation Oxfam said it was “a dark day for global democracy”, pointing out that Musk is richer than 3.8 billion people combined.

It cited YouGov polling indicating 60% of Britons say no one should hold more than £ 1 trillion in personal wealth. SpaceX valued at almost $2trn as opening share price revealed. Shares in the Musk-run company have opened at $150 on the Nasdaq stock exchange. That’s 11% higher than the initial public offering, $135. It puts the company at a $1.96trn market valuation. Courtesy: Sky News.