SpaceX will make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire | ZDNet

There’s rich — Amazon’s Jeff Bezos with not quite $200-billion and Microsoft’s Bill Gates with $132-billion — and then there’s Elon Musk rich: Approximately $241-billion. But, according to a note, “SpaceX Escape Velocity … Who Can Catch Them?” by Morgan Stanley‘s head of auto and space research Adam Jonas, SpaceX will launch him into being the first trillionaire. 

True, SpaceX makes up less than 17% of Musk’s $241.4 billion net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, but Jonas is bullish on SpaceX. Jonas said SpaceX was “challenging any preconceived notion of what was possible and the time frame possible, in terms of rockets, launch vehicles and supporting infrastructure.”

He believes SpaceX, currently worth about $100-billion, will get to $200 billion. That’s because he sees it as multiple businesses in one. Besides the space launch business led by the popular reusable Falcon 9 workhouse rocket, he also sees good things coming from Earth observation, space tourism, deep-space exploration, and other industries. The biggest factor though, in his valuation is the Starlink Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) internet service.

Looking ahead, Jonas sees even bigger things ahead for SpaceX after SpaceX Starship, SpaceX’s next-generation super-heavy spaceship is launched. Jonas opined, “talking about space before Starship is like talking about the internet before Google.”

Tesla, the brand name of e-vehicles, also continued to go great guns. The company will report its third-quarter earnings following the October 20 close. Even before Tesla announces its official numbers, the company has already posted record deliveries for the quarter and strong China sales, despite chip shortages and supply-chain bottlenecks. Since its last low on August 16, the electric-vehicle giant’s shares have gained over 35%. Not bad for two months of growth!

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