SpaceX IPO Beneficiaries? From 83-Year-Old Fund Manager to 27-Year-Old Employee

SpaceX [AP=Yonhap News]

As aerospace company SpaceX successfully completes its initial public offering (IPO), several beneficiaries beyond CEO Elon Musk, who has become a "trillionaire," are drawing attention.

On June 14 (local time), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) introduced executives, investors, employees, and even universities that invested early in SpaceX's success and have now reaped substantial profits.

Among the investors, 83-year-old mutual fund manager Ron Baron stands out.

He has been an open supporter of Musk and invested in SpaceX in 2017 when its valuation was only $22 billion (approximately 33.4 trillion won).

A well-known anecdote tells of Baron lending Musk a total of $100 million, including $35 million of his own funds, when Musk faced difficulties raising money for his acquisition of X (formerly Twitter) in 2022.

As of last month, 30% of Baron's managed funds were allocated to SpaceX, and 19% to Musk's other company, Tesla.

Gavin Baker, an investor famous for recognizing Nvidia's true value, participated in SpaceX's venture capital fundraising in 2015 while at Fidelity Investments. He later established his own investment firm and acquired additional shares.

Darsana Capital Partners has also been investing in SpaceX since 2019 and is known to have not sold a single share. The WSJ estimates that this hedge fund's investment returns could exceed $10 billion.

Success stories of SpaceX employees are also making headlines.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell [AFP=Yonhap News]

Gwynne Shotwell, who has worked at the company for over 20 years, is a major shareholder and president of SpaceX, and stood at the NASDAQ IPO's "opening bell" ceremony.

Ji Andre Labourie (63), a former engineer, held onto his SpaceX shares since their value was less than $2 per share. Due to stock splits, his share count increased, and through the IPO, the value of his holdings has now surpassed $28 million.

He expressed his desire to "not want to die with money sitting in the bank" and intends to use the funds to invest in a project to change the heating system in his Italian village.

Marielyn Musselman (27), who joined SpaceX in 2022 as a marine engineer, consistently used 10% of her salary to purchase company stock for two years.

While she has not disclosed the exact value of her holdings, she shared her dream of one day leading a shipbuilding repair company.

Peter Thiel (left) and Elon Musk (right) [AP=Yonhap News]

Additionally, venture capitalist Antonio Gracias, a board member and investor in many of Musk's companies, and his firm Valor Equity Partners are reportedly set to make substantial profits.

Founders Fund, the venture capital (VC) firm of Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal with Musk, was one of SpaceX's earliest investors. Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, holds approximately $10 billion worth of SpaceX shares.

Among universities, the University of North Carolina secured SpaceX shares through an early investment by Founders Fund, and the University of Washington also invested in SpaceX in 2018. However, both universities are reported to have sold a portion of their stakes before the IPO.