How SpaceX fetched Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal a $13-bn jackpot

The smashing public debut of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) at a market valuation of over $2.1 trillion has not just powered its owner, Elon Musk, in new wealth stratosphere with a cumulative wealth of over $1.1 trillion, it has also fetched a rich bounty for Saudi Arabia’s prince Alwaleed bin Talal.

Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), the investment arm controlled by the Saudi billionaire prince, owns 0.34%, while the prince, in his personal capacity, holds 0.29% in the world’s sixth largest company by market capitalisation. Based on SpaceX’s Day 1 (June 12) closing price of $161.95, the cumulative worth of the 0.63% stake is $13.23 billion.

In fact, the value of SpaceX’s holding nearly dwarfs the $14.24 billion market valuation of the holding company whose investment portfolio is split across three primary business lines: equity investments, hospitality, and real estate.

KHC was the second largest shareholder in X (formerly Twitter) following a $300 million investment made in 2011. The microblogging site was subsequently merged into xAI, which was later subsumed into SpaceX. Currently, SpaceX represents KHC’s largest single AI-related investment, complemented by holdings in companies with significant AI integration and adjacency.

Twitter’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2022 revealed that Alwaleed, through the holding company, rolled over 34,948,975 Twitter shares, which was worth about $1.89 billion at the $54.20 buyout price, into Musk’s private vehicle. Then post a series of mergers and fund raise--X into xAI, an investment in 2024 in xAI over two rounds, xAI merger into SpaceX, then SpaceX's five-for-one split in the run up to the IPO, has now fetched the prince over 82 million shares in the space technology company.

Besides, SpaceX, Alwaleed also holds stakes in Citigroup, the newly listed airline Flynas, Uber, Lyft, Meta, Alibaba, the Four Seasons and Accor hotel empires, the George V in Paris, the Savoy in London, and the Jeddah Economic City development meant to host the world's tallest tower.

While the prince continues to be the largest shareholder in KHC, he had sold 16.9% stake in firm to the Saudi Public Investment Fund for $1.6 billion. In other words, not only the richest man from Saudi Arabia but the Arab nation itself has a significant exposure to Musk’s empire.

The prince will continue to ascend the rank of the global billionaire index, where prior to the SpaceX IPO, he was valued at $24.5 billion.