The City is buzzing. Musk has done it again. SpaceX, the rocket firm that was once a laughing stock, is now worth more than Amazon. Let that sink in.
The valuation? A cool $350bn. That’s according to the latest secondary share sale. Bezos’s baby, Amazon, is now looking up at the red planet darling.
How did this happen? Two words: Starlink and Starship. The satellite internet business is minting money. It’s now a cash cow. And Starship? It’s turned the space launch market on its head. Reusable rockets. Lower costs. The Pentagon is hooked. Nasa too.
But here’s the real story. This isn’t just about space. It’s about the shifting sands of power in the tech world. For years, the giants were Apple, Microsoft, Amazon. Now Musk has two of the top five: Tesla and SpaceX. That’s unprecedented.
The Whitehall whispers are interesting. Downing Street is nervous. They see Musk as an unaccountable force. His Starlink terminals are in Ukraine. He decides who gets connectivity. That’s geopolitical leverage.
Backbench MPs are starting to grumble. “Where’s the British SpaceX?” they ask. The answer is nowhere. Our space industry is stuck in the mud of bureaucracy. One minister told me: “We’re still arguing about which county gets the launch site.”
Meanwhile, Musk is planning Mars. The valuation is a bet on the future. A future where space travel is routine. Where satellites beam internet to every corner of the globe. It’s a long shot. But the markets are buying it.
What does this mean for Amazon? Bezos is not taking this lying down. He’s pouring cash into Blue Origin. But they’re still years behind. The race is on. And Musk is lapping him.
The polling data is telling. Among under-35s, Musk is the most admired entrepreneur. Not Bezos. Not Zuckerberg. That demographic shift matters. It’s cultural. The rock star CEO has replaced the corporate titan.
One more thing. This valuation is not without risk. SpaceX is private. The numbers are opaque. Some analysts whisper it’s a bubble. But try telling that to the traders who just made a killing.
For now, Musk is king. The world’s fifth most valuable company. A private firm, no less. The game has changed. And Westminster is still trying to figure out the rules.
