SpaceX valued at $350bn as company agrees to buy shares from employees | SpaceX

Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX and its investors have agreed to buy shares from its employees, valuing the business at $350bn (£275bn).

The privately owned US business, in which Musk owns a 42% stake, and its backers are buying the stock at $185 a share, up from $112 a few months ago, according to an internal email seen by Bloomberg.

The transaction values SpaceX at approximately $350bn, according to the report, with the Financial Times also reporting the same valuation. The figure represents a near doubling of its reported value a year ago, when another employee share sale valued the business at $180bn.

SpaceX and its investors have reportedly agreed to buy up to $1.25bn worth of employees’ shares, with the company alone offering to snap up $500m.

Investors in SpaceX include the UK-based investment company Baillie Gifford and the US venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.

Musk’s personal fortune, the biggest in the world, has soared since he helped Donald Trump win the US presidential election with his financial heft. The day after the election, the Tesla chief executive’s wealth was estimated at $264bn, with his 13% stake in the electric carmaker making a substantial contribution to that wealth. Musk is now worth $384bn, according to Bloomberg.

Musk’s other business interests include the artificial intelligence startup xAI, which was founded in July last year and recently achieved a valuation of $50bn, and the brain implant firm Neuralink, which is reportedly worth $8bn.

He also owns X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, which he bought for $44bn but which has seen its valuation slip after advertisers withdrew spending from the platform. Nonetheless, Musk’s amplified presence on X, where he has more than 200 million followers, helped distribute pro-Trump messages during the US presidential campaign.

SpaceX and Tesla already earn substantial sums from US government contracts, and the financial community expects Musk’s interests to flourish further under a Trump administration.

In October alone SpaceX, which also owns the Starlink satellite internet unit, secured contracts worth more than $700m from the US Space Force. SpaceX and Tesla have received at least $15.4bn in government contracts over the past decade, according to a recent New York Times analysis.

SpaceX declined to comment.