SpaceX IPO debut not only made Musk a trillionaire but turned 4,000 employees into overnight millionaires – Firstpost

The long-awaited
debut of  SpaceX on the Nasdaq has not only given the world its first trillionaire, with CEO Elon Musk’s wealth skyrocketing, but it has also made 4,000 former and current employees of the company overnight millionaires. Many of the current and former members of SpaceX’s staff who picked up equity during their time at the firm can finally cash out in the public markets (at least eventually).

On Friday, the company saw record-breaking IPO performance, with early signs looking good for the stock—initially priced by Musk at $135 per share. According to Yahoo Finance and Google Finance data, the stock of Musk’s company is now trading at around $164 despite scepticism from many analysts who’ve cautioned against overinflated expectations.

According to a New York Times estimate, the company currently has 22,000 employees, plus hundreds more who have already left. Many of these staff members were paid in part with equity rather than 100 per cent cash. This left them with shares that they will soon be able to liquidate amid sky-high demand from retail investors eager to get SpaceX exposure.

The most highly-rewarded of these employees is CEO
Elon Musk himself, who was crowned by Forbes as the
world’s first trillionaire. But data analysed by The Hill.com estimated that around 4,400 other SpaceX employees will at least become millionaires.

Some even join the $100 million club

Meanwhile, the analysis suggested that an upper echelon of 400 company affiliates at the rockets, satellites and AI company are expected to make $100 million and more. “The magnitude of this has been ridiculous,” 37-year-old Trevor Hise told The New York Times. He took an internship at SpaceX after graduating from college in 2011—despite the protests of his parents, who wanted him to lock down a more stable gig.

Hise accumulated his wealth by staying with the company for the next 12 years. During his time, he has acquired 100,000 SpaceX shares—currently worth more than $16 million. The former intern, the article adds, “now considers himself semiretired.”

However, it is sometimes complicated for employees to sell their shares in still-private companies through what’s known as the secondary market. Selling public-company shares on an exchange such as the
Nasdaq, however, is much more straightforward, although there’s often a lock-up period in the immediate wake of a new listing.

That being said, not all employees are planning to make a mint off their SpaceX bets. Other than employees and ex-employees, plenty of venture capitalists and other investment firms have also backed the company across its lifetime, and will now be rewarded handsomely for doing so. Overall, the company going public has rewarded those who trusted the brand when it was just a startup.