Stock in Elon Musk’s aerospace giant has erased its post-listing gains as investors question its valuation and China’s advances in reusable rockets
SpaceX shares dipped below their initial public offering (IPO) price on Wednesday, little more than a month after the company’s record-breaking market debut briefly made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
SpaceX raised a record $75 billion by pricing its IPO at $135 a share in June and outlining ambitions that include orbital data centers, lunar infrastructure, asteroid mining, and ultimately cities on Mars as potential drivers of future growth beyond its core businesses.
According to trading data, the stock fell as low as $132.28 on Wednesday before recovering to close at $135.27, about 40% below its mid-June peak of $225.64.
Analysts attributed the selloff largely to growing doubts that SpaceX can generate enough profits to justify its trillion-dollar valuation. Forbes cited the widening gap between the company’s market value and losses in its launch and AI businesses, while valuation expert Aswath Damodaran described the stock as “embarrassingly overvalued.”
SpaceX generated $18.7 billion in revenue last year but still posted a $4.9 billion net loss after heavy spending on AI infrastructure and Starship development. Its AI division alone lost $6.4 billion in 2025, partly offset by profits from Starlink, the company’s only profitable operating business. SpaceX reported another $4.3 billion net loss in the first quarter of 2026.
Another concern is growing competition. Barron’s noted that China is making rapid progress in reusable rocket technology, an area where SpaceX has long held a commanding lead. Earlier this month, China recovered the first stage of an orbital rocket for the first time and said it aims to reuse the booster before the end of the year.
The decline has also dented Musk’s net worth, which peaked at an estimated $1.45 trillion on June 16 following the IPO. The Financial Times now estimates it at about $860 billion, though he remains the world’s richest person
