You can ignore AI giants like SpaceX, but your 401(k) won't
NEW YORK (AP) — Think you can ignore all the hubbub around SpaceX, Elon Musk and IPOs? Your 401(k) won’t. Musk’s rocket company launched 19.2% higher in the first day of trading for its stock Friday, making it worth a total of $2.1 trillion. Whether or not you believe it deserves to be worth more than Exxon Mobil, Bank of America and Coca-Cola combined, the collective market does. And by virtue of having that big a value, SpaceX will soon join some high-profile stock indexes. That matters for investors and their 401(k) accounts because they’re depending more than ever on funds that simply mimic these indexes.
SpaceX stock soars in debut and makes Elon Musk the first trillionaire
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of SpaceX soared 19% in their Wall Street debut, making the rocket maker’s founder and CEO Elon Musk the first-ever trillionaire. The shares opened at $150 and finished Friday slightly below $161. That price gave the company a market value of around $2.1 trillion. Forbes estimates that Musk, who is also a major shareholder in Tesla, is now worth $1.1 trillion. Musk says SpaceX is going public because it needs money to fund its ambitions of putting satellites and data centers in space and eventually establishing a colony of people on Mars. The $75 billion in proceeds from the IPO tops the previous high of $26 billion for Saudi Aramco's IPO in 2019.
Trump and other G7 leaders are meeting without China. Is that a mistake?
PARIS (AP) — China's absence from G7 summits seems increasingly odd given its global economic influence. The G7, formed in 1975, includes only democratic nations, which excludes China under its authoritarian government. Analysts say that expanding the club to include China could disrupt the group's cohesion, although U.S. President Donald Trump has mused that it could be a good idea. The group’s past experience with Russia also could argue against involving China. Still, China’s economic might will be a priority topic when G7 leaders meet in France this week.
OpenAI hit with multistate probe into possible user harm as its IPO looms
NEW YORK (AP) — OpenAI received a subpoena from several states as part of a probe into the safety of customers using its chatbot as it prepares to offer stock to the public for the first time. The company behind the popular ChatGPT issued a statement saying it will respond to the inquiry “constructively” and that it already has measures to protect customers. The chatbot has drawn criticism for allegedly offering encouraging words to users thinking of killing themselves or engaging criminal acts. It also has come under scrutiny for how it uses health data and other personal information of its customers.
Elon Musk's SpaceX is about to make its debut on Wall Street
Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX is set to make its debut on Wall Street Friday. Institutional and retail investors jumped at the opportunity to buy 555.6 million shares of SpaceX at $135 apiece. Underwriters now have to match buyers and sellers to determine an opening price. Musk is already the world’s richest man and he could become its first trillionaire. Musk says the company is going public because it needs money to fund its ambitions of putting satellites and data centers in space.
From rockets to brain implants, here's a look at Elon Musk's vast empire
NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and now first-ever trillionaire, controls a lot of different businesses. Electric vehicles. Brain implants. Underground tunnels. A social media platform once called Twitter. And a rocket maker that blasted off its trading from Wall Street this week. Over time, more and more of those ventures have found themselves under the same roof. Musk merged SpaceX — which went public on Friday — with his artificial intelligence company xAI just earlier this year. But he still holds the role of CEO at several corporations today, in addition to other various executive titles or ownership stakes across his business empire.
A look at the SpaceX IPO by the numbers
Elon Musk is all about big numbers — millions, billions, even trillions – and there are plenty of them associated with SpaceX and Musk’s plans to take the rocket maker public. The prospectus for SpaceX's initial public offering shows spending at a massive scale — greater than economic output of some countries — and about to grow much larger as Musk races to make good on his promise to hurl people to distant planets. Money raised in the initial public offering — estimated to be $75 billion — will help. The IPO could rank as the largest ever and make Musk the world's first trillionaire.
What Elon Musk's trillion means in real terms
NEW YORK (AP) — Catapulted by the market debut of his rocket company SpaceX, Elon Musk is now the world's first trillionaire. That amount of money, all owned by just one person, was once unfathomable. The trillion-dollar mark was previously reserved for measures like the GDP (or staggering debt) of major economies — and, in under the last decade alone, the value of some of the biggest companies to ever trade on the stock market. The number “one trillion” is hard in itself for the human mind to comprehend. One trillion dollars is a thousand times greater than $1 billion. And a million times more than $1 million.
Paramount Skydance merger with Warner Bros. Discovery won't harm competition, consumers, DOJ says
The U.S. Justice Department has determined that Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is unlikely to be harmful to consumers. The agency said Friday that an investigation by antitrust regulators concluded that the merger would increase competition in areas like video streaming, giving consumers more options. It also found that the merger is not likely to harm competition in the film industry. Paramount Skydance reached the deal in February, beating a rival bid by Netflix. Critics, however, worry about industry consolidation. The merger is still under review by other regulators, including those in Europe and the U.K., with decisions expected in the coming months.
US stocks rise after oil prices ease and SpaceX soars in its debut on Wall Street
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose after oil prices fell again, and SpaceX soared in its highly anticipated debut on Wall Street. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% Friday. The Dow added 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.3%. Stocks got a lift from a 3.4% drop for Brent crude oil's price, as hopes remain for a potential U.S.-Iran deal to get oil flowing globally again. SpaceX leaped 19.2% in its first day of trading, suggesting investors still have plenty of demand for AI-related stocks. Other AI stocks were mixed following their sharp swings over the last week.
