Thousands of Elon Musk’s employees could get rich thanks to one event

SpaceX is preparing for an event that could go down in stock market history. If the long-awaited IPO takes place at the forecast valuation of about $1.75 trillion, around 4,400 new dollar millionaires could appear in the world in a single day.

What is most unusual about this story is that it is not only executives and early investors who could profit, but also thousands of ordinary company employees. For many years, SpaceX actively rewarded staff with shares and stock options, which have now turned into real fortunes.

The real lucky ones are the employees who joined the company before 2008. Back then, SpaceX was still considered a risky startup, frequently faced launch failures, and few believed that Elon Musk’s project could change the space industry. The stakes of the first roughly 500 employees have grown by almost 17,000 times over the years. According to analysts, many of them now have fortunes exceeding $100 million.

Working at the company between 2010 and 2016 also proved highly profitable. At that time, SpaceX’s valuation was already measured in billions of dollars, but the company was still relatively small. Large fortunes were accumulated by top managers, division directors and specialists who were involved in creating the Starlink satellite network from the very beginning. This refers to roughly 100–200 employees who, thanks to their share packages, could receive hundreds of millions of dollars.

Those who joined after 2016 were a little less fortunate — but only by billionaire standards. By then, the company’s value was already estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars, so the rise in share value was not as explosive. Nevertheless, many engineers, programmers, technicians and production specialists can still expect fortunes worth several million dollars.

According to American media reports, even employees of cafeterias, logistics divisions and launch site workers who supported rocket launches could be among the future millionaires. For many of them, shares were merely an additional bonus to their salary, which unexpectedly turned into a ticket to an entirely different life.

However, not everyone took advantage of this chance. Some early SpaceX employees in the company’s first years did not believe in its prospects and preferred to exchange shares for various corporate perks. According to former workers, some employees even agreed to certificates for free restaurant visits instead of stakes in the company, which today could be worth millions of dollars.

Financial advisers are already preparing for an influx of new wealthy clients. Many employees have never managed such sums before and are now receiving guidance on investments, taxes and capital preservation.

If SpaceX does indeed go public at the expected valuation, it will become one of the largest cases of creating a new generation of millionaires in the history of modern business. For thousands of company employees, the day of the listing may turn out to be the most profitable day of their lives.