Antonio Gracias’ SpaceX stake could be worth $90 billion at the company’s planned IPO, making the private equity investor one of the world’s wealthiest people and rewarding a two-decade alliance with Elon Musk that began with a $1 million loan when Tesla was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Quick Facts
- Gracias’ Valor Equity Partners controls a 7.3% stake in SpaceX through over 500 million Class A shares, the second-largest individual holding after Musk.
- SpaceX is targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation and a $75 billion IPO raise at $135 per share, the largest in history.
- At the targeted valuation, Gracias’ stake would be worth roughly $90 billion; at a higher $2 trillion valuation, it could exceed $140 billion.
- Gracias has served on the boards of Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity, Neuralink, and The Boring Company alongside Musk.
Gracias, 55, a Detroit-born private equity investor, met Musk through Silicon Valley circles around 2000 and has remained his closest business confidant ever since. He was a groomsman at Kimbal Musk’s wedding, and the families have vacationed together multiple times, including trips to David Copperfield’s private island in the Bahamas.
His firm, Valor Equity Partners, was one of Tesla’s earliest institutional investors and has backed nearly every Musk venture. Gracias served eight years as Tesla’s lead independent director before stepping down, and he currently sits on SpaceX’s compensation and nominating committee.
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Beyond his equity stake, Gracias stands to benefit from related-party deals between Valor and SpaceX. According to SpaceX’s S-1 IPO filing, Valor signed three equipment lease agreements with xAI—the AI company Musk founded and SpaceX absorbed in February—obligating the company to pay Valor close to $20 billion over their terms. SpaceX guarantees the payments, meaning public shareholders will inherit billions in obligations once the company goes public.
In 2025 alone, Valor collected roughly $885 million from these leases, with another $857 million in the first two months of 2026. PwC, SpaceX’s auditor, classified the arrangement as a “failed sale leaseback,” treating it as debt rather than a normal lease.
SpaceX set a fixed IPO price of $135 per share before its roadshow began, an unusual move that signals Musk’s control over deal terms. The company is selling 555.6 million shares, with underwriters holding an option to purchase an additional 83.33 million shares worth $11.2 billion, bringing the total potential raise to $86.2 billion.
Sources
- Fortune — Gracias’ stake size, valuation scenarios, related-party lease details, and his history with Musk.
- Yahoo Finance — Confirmation of the $1.75 trillion valuation target and $90 billion stake value.
- Barron’s — IPO pricing at $135 per share, share count, and total raise amount.
- Reuters — SpaceX IPO target valuation and pricing details.
- MSN — Stake percentage and valuation range scenarios.
