SpaceX shares rocketed after Elon Musk kicked off the biggest stock market listing in history, valuing the company at more than $2 trillion.
The rocket company’s stock surged by 25pc when it began trading on the Nasdaq in New York after successfully raising $75bn (£56bn) through its initial public offering (IPO).
Investors who were able to get hold of stock at the initial $135 price saw the company’s shares leap to $169 in opening trading as they floated on public markets for the first time.
SpaceX’s new valuation on Friday minted Mr Musk, its founder and chief executive, as the world’s first trillionaire.
Thanks to his SpaceX stock and his shares in electric car business Tesla, Mr Musk’s net worth now sits just north of $1tn.
As his colleagues rang the opening bell on the Nasdaq on Wall Street, Mr Musk said he had expected the company would fail, making an appearance via video link from the company’s Starbase headquarters in Texas.
He said: “If people had told me this was going to happen, I was like: man you must be smoking some really good crack – cause I think this company is going to fail.
“I gave SpaceX less than a 10pc chance of succeeding at all. In fact I told people this: it is probably going to fail, but, you know, we should give it a try.”
Demand for SpaceX shares far outstripped supply ahead of its listing, with retail investors alone placing bids for $100bn-worth.
British armchair investors secured 2.7 million of the 555 million shares sold ahead of the listing, each valued at $135 – or £100.65 – for a total of £271m.
Some analysts have argued that SpaceX is vastly overvalued, with much of its potential tied up in “moonshot” projects such as launching AI data centres into orbit and mining on asteroids that may never succeed.