SpaceX IPO set to make 4,400-plus employees millionaires, with 400 topping $100M

More than 4,400 current and former SpaceX employees are expected to join the ranks of millionaires as Elon Musk's rocket company prepares for its initial public offering.

The New York Times, citing an analysis by investment platform Hill.com, reported Wednesday that more than 4,400 current and former employees are likely to become millionaires through the IPO. About 400 of them are expected to see their holdings exceed $100 million (about 152.4 billion won).

According to The Wall Street Journal, the beneficiaries span a wide range of roles — not just white-collar workers at the company's California, Florida and Texas campuses, but also technicians and service staff.

SpaceX currently employs about 22,000 people. Former employees who passed through the company for years are also expected to benefit directly from the listing.

Among them is Trevor Heiss, 37, a former SpaceX launch engineer who joined the company in 2011 despite his parents' objections. His parents had urged him to pursue a stable job at a company like General Electric, but after completing an internship he stayed at SpaceX for 12 years.

Heiss holds more than 100,000 SpaceX shares. With the company expected to list at $135 per share, his stake is worth at least $13.5 million (about 20.6 billion won). He told The New York Times that "the scale of this is just absurd."

Heiss said that at the time, SpaceX was widely seen as an unproven startup that might not last. He sold some shares to cover wedding costs and a down payment on a home, he said, but has held on to most of them.

Juan Hernandez, a welder who left SpaceX last year, expects his stake to be worth $880,000 when the IPO closes. He told The Wall Street Journal, "This is going to allow me to live comfortably for the rest of my life."

Hernandez was initially hired as a contractor earning $28 an hour before being brought on as a full-time employee. After leaving the company, he sold part of his stake and has since started a small real estate business.

Some early employees, according to accounts from current and former staff, regret having sold their shares too cheaply and too soon.

Helvin Bacareza, a former global supply manager who worked at SpaceX from 2020 to 2022, said he sometimes wonders whether he should have stayed longer, but added that the value of his remaining stake is "substantial."

SpaceX is expected to list this week at $135 per share, giving the company a valuation of roughly $1.77 trillion.

The offering is on track to become the largest IPO in history. SpaceX has announced plans to raise up to $75 billion through the listing, which would surpass the record set by Saudi Aramco in 2019, when it raised $26 billion.

Some market observers have raised the possibility that the SpaceX listing could make Musk the world's first trillionaire.