WHAT HAPPENED

In 2015, Google, now known as Alphabet, made a strategic investment in SpaceX, cutting the rocket company a check for $900 million. This move, which seemed like a cheeky side bet at the time, has now yielded a staggering return of $94 billion for Alphabet. To put this into perspective, the investment has returned around 100 times the initial amount.

The $900 million investment was made as part of SpaceX’s series F round, earning Alphabet 551.2 million shares. As of June 30, these shares are valued at $94.2 billion, based on the closing price of $170.86 that day.

SpaceX’s IPO, which debuted at $135, peaked on June 30th at $170.86, before it started pulling back. Alphabet’s position in SpaceX is still dwarfed by other disclosed institutional holders, including Gigafund Management, Fidelity Investments, Baillie Gifford, and BlackRock.

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, holds a significant portion of the company’s shares, with a 48.4% stake and voting control well above that. However, it’s worth noting that 13F data is already outdated and doesn’t account for the sale of shares post-June 30. Additionally, it’s difficult to determine how many of these shares were held pre-IPO.

WHY IT MATTERS

The data reveals a broader dynamic around SpaceX’s IPO: that ownership is still heavily concentrated among a small number of institutions and Musk himself, leaving relatively little float in public hands relative to the company’s total valuation. However, it also demonstrates what a growing asset SpaceX shares are for large investors today.

For Alphabet specifically, the stake functions as a hidden asset sitting outside its core advertising and cloud businesses – a scale of paper gain that few strategic corporate investments have ever produced.

WHAT’S NEXT

We will have to wait for more 13F filings to know if any of these investors liquidated some of their shares as lockup restrictions expire and the stock’s post-IPO volatility continues. Meanwhile, investors are also watching whether retail selling pressure persists, and whether SpaceX’s valuation stabilizes closer.