Alphabet's Investment in SpaceX Multiplies 100-Fold to $94 Billion

Alphabet's early investment in Elon Musk's SpaceX has yielded extraordinary returns, with the Google parent company's stake now valued at approximately $94 billion. This figure, reported at the end of June, represents a more than 100-fold increase from the $900 million investment Alphabet made in 2015. The surge in value solidifies Alphabet's position as SpaceX's largest institutional shareholder, particularly after the rocket company's significant IPO in June. This substantial growth highlights the dramatic increase in value for early investors in SpaceX as it transitioned from a startup to a major player in the aerospace industry. The valuation is based on filings made public after the second quarter, meaning current market values could differ. Interactive Brokers market strategist Steve Sosnick noted the difficulty in precisely tracking pre-IPO shareholdings but pointed to Alphabet's public disclosure as a key benchmark. Sosnick also highlighted that 13F filings do not reveal investors' intentions regarding selling their pre-IPO positions. Alphabet held 551.2 million SpaceX shares at the end of the second quarter, valued at $170.86 per share. As of Thursday, that stake would be worth about $77.9 billion, still approximately 86.5 times the original investment. Other major institutional holders include Fidelity Investments, Gigafund Management, Baillie Gifford, and BlackRock, which collectively hold a significant portion of SpaceX's reported shares. SpaceX itself reported that Musk owns a 48.4% stake in the company.

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It's very, very difficult to tease out which of these institutions were holding pre-IPO shares.