People Protesting The SpaceX IPO Are Upset About 5 Things
Frederic Legrand - COMEO | Shutterstock Today, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX went public to investors with the biggest IPO, or initial public offering, in history.
Musk is a pretty polarizing figure, so a lot of people have very strong opinions about one of his many business ventures going public and giving him the chance to make even more money in the process. Protestors have been taking to the streets and social media for weeks now to express their displeasure with the SpaceX IPO, and it seems like their concerns boil down to five main issues.
People protesting the SpaceX IPO are upset about these 5 things:
1. Some people won’t be able to choose whether or not they want to invest in the company
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One of the biggest things leaving a bad taste in people’s mouths is the fact that a lot of people who have invested in the stock market already at some level will be stuck with SpaceX shares whether they like it or not.
In an article sarcastically titled “How Much SpaceX Are You About to Own?,” the New York Times reported that anyone with an index fund like a 401(k) will automatically be given a piece of SpaceX because these funds “track the broader market.”
Technically, this is standard for the stock market, and people won’t be given huge investments in SpaceX because not much of its stock is public yet. A lot of people are still worried about how this could affect their portfolios if the company doesn’t remain profitable, though.
2. The valuation could be too high
A single share in SpaceX costs $135, which means the company is valued at $1.77 trillion overall. Morningstar, a company that provides investors with information and resources, actually valued shares in the company at $63 a piece, which is obviously quite different.
Marvin Jung told CNBC he thought the valuation was “really, really aggressive.” Jung, described as “a self-directed investor who trades in his spare time,” added, “It’s outrageous. It’s stupid. It’s unreasonable, to be frankly honest with you.”
Of course, the questionably high valuation of the company did nothing to hamper its success today. Jung admitted that despite his misgivings, he even requested 1,000 shares himself.
3. It made the world’s richest man even richer
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Many of the criticisms aimed at the SpaceX IPO seem to have more to do with its founder, Elon Musk, than with the actual company itself. Musk has held the title of richest person in the world for a while now, and his net worth kept inching closer to $1 trillion. With the IPO’s success, he officially became the world’s first-ever trillionaire today.
Everyone is pretty used to the fact that Musk is insanely wealthy by now, but people are worried about how this might affect the bigger picture. Anthropic and OpenAI are both slated for their own IPOs later in the year, which means some of the other richest and most powerful people are likely to follow in Musk’s footsteps, even if they don’t quite make it to trillionaire status.
Economist Gabriel Zucman explained that this means the gap between the rich and the poor will continue to widen, which could have serious implications for the future of governments around the world. “There is a fundamental tension in democratic societies between extreme wealth … and the very possibility of a well-functioning democracy,” he said.
4. Many of Elon Musk’s past business decisions have been controversial
Musk acquired Twitter several years ago and rebranded the social media platform as X. Among the changes he made to the app was the addition of an AI chatbot called Grok. Around the beginning of the year, news broke that Grok shared nearly 2 million explicit images of women that users prompted it to create over the course of nine days.
Previously, Musk’s employees have also accused him of creating racist and sexist work environments. A lot of people aren’t thrilled with the idea that he’s becoming astronomically rich despite a history of scandals, which even inspired some protestors to place an inflatable, shirtless replica of Musk in Times Square.
5. Elon Musk has become extremely active and influential in politics
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Perhaps the thing that has kept Musk in the news the most recently is his involvement in the political arena. He aligned himself with Donald Trump and worked as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) for several months at the beginning of Trump's second term as president.
DOGE was meant to eliminate waste in the government, but it was heavily criticized for laying off thousands of government employees and cutting funding for critical medical research and aid programs. After Musk’s work with the Trump administration was completed, he tried to start his own political party in an effort “to give you back your freedom,” but it didn’t really go anywhere.
Some obviously have objections to Musk’s actions because they simply disagree with him politically, but others are more concerned about what it means for someone so wealthy to have a powerful federal role. A lot of people have been expressing their frustration with Musk and his influence since then, like a group of teachers who protested outside of a SpaceX facility.
Only time will tell whether SpaceX lives up to the massive expectations created by its IPO and how it will affect investors’ bank accounts, but a lot of people are expressing skepticism in the meantime.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
