big number
About $1 trillion. That’s how much was wiped from SpaceX’s market value across its losing streak after hitting an intraday low on Tuesday, falling from $2.9 trillion to just below $2 trillion. SpaceX briefly ranked ahead of Amazon and Microsoft as the fourth-largest firm by market capitalization last week, and now ranks ahead of Broadcom ($1.8 trillion) as the seventh-largest.
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tangent
Chip and memory stocks pulled down global markets on Tuesday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.1% and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped 0.9% and 1.3%, respectively. Micron headlined losses across the tech-heavy Nasdaq, plunging by 9.2%, followed by Tesla (4.1%) and Nvidia (2.5%), as JPMorgan analysts wrote that a selloff may have been fueled by “anxiety” ahead of Micron’s earnings report on Wednesday. There is some “added nervousness on the important memory chip trade” ahead of the earnings report, WedBush analyst Dan Ives wrote, noting the global stock market was undergoing a “gut check moment” as Micron is seen as a measurement for broader AI demand.
forbes valuation
A brief decline in SpaceX shares lowered Musk’s net worth by about $41.7 billion to just over $1 trillion, according to Forbes’ estimates. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO remains the world’s wealthiest person by far, ranking ahead of Google cofounders Larry Page ($279.7 billion) and Sergey Brin ($258 billion).
key background
SpaceX opened at $150 following a record-setting IPO that raised more than $85 billion, with investors ordering more than $350 billion in shares. The debut made Musk the world’s first trillionaire and SpaceX the seventh-largest firm in the world by market capitalization, ranking ahead of his firm Tesla, Broadcom and Saudi Aramco. The company finalized its IPO price at $135 per share, and early estimates projected SpaceX shares to open at as high as $175, marking what would have been a 30% surge for the stock. Analysts have cautioned against trading in SpaceX in recent days, including Morningstar, which criticized the company’s $60 billion all-stock deal for Cursor. MSCI, one of the world’s largest stock market index providers, awarded SpaceX a CCC rating, its lowest on a seven-tier sustainability scale, warning SpaceX was “lagging its industry” because of exposure to and management of “significant” environmental, social and governance risks. Musk’s sizable control over SpaceX shareholder voting power has also drawn criticism: University of Colorado, Boulder, law professor Ann Lipton told the Wall Street Journal that SpaceX was “essentially closing off every possible avenue for shareholders to have any influence at all.”
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further reading
ForbesGlobal Tech Rout—Nvidia, Tesla, More—Hits Markets: Here’s What Fueled The SelloffBy Ty RoushForbesElon Musk’s Net Worth Drops $350 Billion In Massive SpaceX Selloff—But He’s Still A TrillionaireBy Ty Roush