By COMFORT OGBONNA
Alphabet’s early investment in SpaceX has grown dramatically in value, with the Google parent company disclosing a stake worth about $94 billion at the end of June, compared with the $900 million it invested in Elon Musk’s space company in 2015.
The enormous increase in the value of the investment highlights the extraordinary growth of SpaceX, which recently transitioned from a privately held startup into a publicly traded company.
Alphabet has emerged as the largest disclosed institutional shareholder of SpaceX following the company’s $86 billion initial public offering in June, according to an analysis of publicly available quarterly investment filings.
Alphabet’s position also provides a rare look at how much an early investment in SpaceX can be worth following the company’s rapid expansion and public-market debut.
The filings show that Alphabet held about 551.2 million SpaceX shares at the end of the second quarter. Based on SpaceX’s closing share price of $170.86 on June 30, the stake was worth approximately $94.2 billion.
That represents an increase of more than 100 times the value of Alphabet’s original investment.
At a more recent SpaceX share price of $146.15, Alphabet’s disclosed holding would be worth about $81.8 billion. Even after the decline from the end of June, the position remains roughly 90 times larger than Alphabet’s original $900 million investment.
Alphabet’s investment dates back to 2015, when the technology company provided capital to SpaceX as the rocket company continued developing its launch and satellite businesses.
The investment has become particularly significant following SpaceX’s public listing, which has given investors a clearer view of the value of stakes accumulated by early backers.
Before the IPO, SpaceX was one of the world’s most closely watched privately held technology companies. Its valuation increased dramatically as it expanded its rocket-launch business, developed reusable launch technology and built the Starlink satellite internet network.
The company’s transition to public ownership has now created a much broader market for its shares, while also revealing the scale of some institutional holdings.
Gigafund Management ranked a distant second among disclosed institutional holders, with approximately 171.8 million SpaceX shares. Baillie Gifford held about 51.4 million shares, while BlackRock reported roughly 51 million and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan held about 50.7 million.
Together with Alphabet, those five investors represented the majority of SpaceX shares disclosed in institutional filings available through Thursday.
The concentration of ownership among a relatively small number of major investors demonstrates how much of SpaceX’s institutional stock is held by large financial and corporate shareholders.
However, the filings do not provide a complete picture of SpaceX’s ownership.
Quarterly institutional filings are submitted after the end of each reporting period, meaning the available data reflects positions held as of June 30 and does not capture purchases or sales made afterward.
The filings also do not necessarily show whether institutional investors received their shares before or after SpaceX’s public offering. Some investors may have acquired positions through the IPO or subsequent public-market trading, while others may have held shares before the listing.
The situation is particularly complicated because different groups of SpaceX shareholders are subject to different restrictions governing when they can sell their shares.
Investors and analysts are closely watching the expiration of those restrictions because the release of additional shares into the public market could increase the supply available to investors and potentially create additional volatility.
Steve Sosnick, a market strategist at Interactive Brokers, said it is difficult to determine from the quarterly filings which institutions held SpaceX shares before the IPO.
Alphabet is an unusual case because the company had previously disclosed its $900 million investment, giving investors a clear benchmark for measuring the extraordinary appreciation of its position.
SpaceX began trading publicly on June 12 at $135 a share.
The stock initially moved higher but later retreated from its June 30 closing level. Shares closed at $146.15 on Wednesday, leaving the stock about 8.3% above its IPO price but roughly 14% below its June 30 closing price.
The fluctuations illustrate the challenges facing investors trying to value one of the world’s most closely watched space companies.
SpaceX has attracted enormous investor interest because of its dominant position in commercial rocket launches and the rapid growth of Starlink, its satellite internet business. The company has also pursued ambitious projects involving human spaceflight, lunar missions and other space technologies.
Its public listing has opened those opportunities to a much larger pool of investors, but it has also introduced the company to the daily price swings and scrutiny associated with public markets.
SpaceX remains one of the most actively traded stocks among customers at Interactive Brokers, according to Sosnick, reflecting continued interest from individual investors as well as institutions.
Retail investors have also played an important role in the stock’s early trading. Investors who hold shares personally are not required to publicly report their positions in the same way as large institutional investors.
Data tracking individual investor activity showed that retail shareholders became net sellers of SpaceX stock on one day last week for the first time since the IPO. The group sold a net $4.5 million worth of shares on that day.
Despite that selling, SpaceX shares have remained highly volatile. The stock fell 3% on Thursday but had gained about 30% since Aug. 5.
For Alphabet, however, the market’s daily movements do little to diminish the scale of its long-term gain.
A $900 million investment made more than a decade ago has turned into a stake worth tens of billions of dollars, making SpaceX one of the most valuable investments in Alphabet’s portfolio.
The company’s success also demonstrates the potential rewards of investing early in high-growth technology businesses, although such outcomes are rare and come with substantial risks.
As SpaceX continues its life as a public company, investors will be watching how its valuation develops, how early shareholders manage their positions and whether the company’s ambitious expansion plans can justify its enormous market value.
For Alphabet, the investment provides an extraordinary example of how an early strategic bet on an emerging technology company can multiply in value over time.
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