More than 4,000 SpaceX Employees Have over $1 Million in Stock After IPO

According to an analysis posted on X by Hill.com founder and CEO Andrew Benson, widely cited in the New York Times and other news outlets, more than 4,000 current and former employees of SpaceX now have more than $1 million in stock (400-plus having $100 million or more), and many others among SpaceX's 22,000 employees have large amounts of stock as well after the company’s record-breaking IPO. 

SpaceX has offered several forms of equity compensation, including a qualified employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) that allows employees to buy shares at a discount using accumulated payroll deductions. Attorney Bruce Brumberg, a long-time authority in the equity compensation field, wrote a Forbes.com blog post breaking down the stock compensation information in SpaceX's IPO filing (see here for the Form S-1) and linking to other sources for more information. The employee-held shares are subject to a set of staggered time- and event-based lockup periods over the 180 days following the IPO before they can be sold. After the 180-day period ends, the shares can be freely sold. In addition, a "friends and family" program allows employees, their family members, and their friends to buy at the IPO price and sell at any time post-IPO without a lockup period.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk is now the world’s first trillionaire, thanks in part to the IPO. Divided up, that figure would create 1,000 billionaires or 1 million millionaires. It is also about equal to the total stock owned by the bottom 67% of the US population.