Elon Musk’s trillionaire status at risk; oil price lowest since Iran war began – business live

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Elon Musk could soon be down to his last thousand billion dollars, after the share price of his recently floated SpaceX came under pressure this week.

Musk became the world’s first trillionaire this month when SpaceX floated on the stock market. But after a 16% drop in SpaceX’s shares on Monday, Musk’s wealth has declined to $1.1tn.

Monday’s drop alone wiped out more than $152bn from Musk’s net worth, according to Forbes estimates. And most of those who bought into SpaceX since it floated on 12 June are facing smaller losses.

SpaceX’s shares closed at $156 last night, slightly above the $150 at which they started trading on the 12th, but sharply below the record high of $225 set a week ago. The IPO was priced at $135, so everyone who took part is still in the money.

The weakness in the last week has dragged SpaceX’s value down from a peak of about $2.99tn to just over $2tn last night. That’s a fall of almost $1tn, or nearly one Musk.

SpaceX might have seemed charmed after its record-breaking IPO and subsequent rally, but it’s come down to earth with a bump over the past couple of days, with shares at one point falling below the opening price on its market debut.

“Post-IPO stocks often enter a period of volatility as the market gets to grips with the new entrant, some investors rush to cash out, and others assess at what price they are willing to jump in.

“For a stock like SpaceX, a lot of decision making might have been emotional and based on the anticipation of huge leaps forward in space exploration and utilisation, but investing should be something treated with clear eyes and patience, even when such huge numbers are involved.

Musk was also hit by a 5.8% drop in Tesla’s shares yesterday, as the tech sector was hit by a broad selloff in AI and semiconductor stocks.