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Alphabet’s SpaceX stake surges to $94.2 billion from $900 million
Google parent’s SpaceX holding is now worth over 100 times its 2015 investment
MUMBAI: That’s one investment that has truly blasted off. Alphabet’s $900 million bet on Elon Musk’s SpaceX in 2015 has ballooned into a holding worth around $94.2 billion, more than 100 times its original investment, following the rocket company’s public listing in June.
Alphabet disclosed that it held 551.2 million SpaceX shares at the end of the second quarter. Based on SpaceX’s June 30 closing price of $170.86, the stake was valued at about $94.2 billion, according to a Reuters analysis of institutional filings.
The value has since cooled with the stock. At Wednesday’s closing price of $146.15, Alphabet’s disclosed holding would be worth around $81.8 billion. Even at that level, the stake remains roughly 90 times the $900 million Alphabet invested in 2015.
The figures also put Alphabet at the top of the disclosed institutional ownership table for SpaceX.
Gigafund Management ranked second with 171.8 million shares, followed by Baillie Gifford with 51.4 million, BlackRock with 51 million and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan with 50.7 million shares. Together with Alphabet, the five investors accounted for most of the SpaceX shares disclosed in the 13F filings analysed by Reuters.
However, the filings offer only a snapshot rather than the full investor picture. The quarterly disclosures are released within six weeks of the quarter-end and do not capture transactions after June 30. They also do not reveal investors’ lock-up arrangements or whether they plan to sell pre-IPO holdings.
Alphabet’s position provides a particularly clear benchmark because its original $900 million SpaceX investment was publicly disclosed in 2015.
SpaceX began trading publicly on June 12, with shares priced at $135 at the IPO. By Wednesday, the stock was down 14 per cent from its June 30 close of $170.86, although it remained 8.3 per cent above its IPO price.
The trading momentum has also begun to shift among retail investors. According to Vanda Research, individual investors became net sellers of SpaceX shares on Friday for the first time since the IPO, offloading an estimated $4.5 million worth of stock.
The move followed a 3 per cent fall on Thursday, although SpaceX shares had still gained 30 per cent since August 5.
For Alphabet, however, the numbers tell a much bigger story: a $900 million space-age bet made more than a decade ago has turned into one of its most valuable disclosed institutional holdings.
