A bet placed a decade ago has turned into a goldmine for Alphabet. Google's parent company was among the very first to back Elon Musk's SpaceX, teaming up with Fidelity in 2015 to put their faith in the rocket maker. Together they poured $1 billion into the company, already sensing the fortunes that lay ahead. Now that SpaceX stock (NASDAQ: SPCX) went live on Friday, June 12, 2026, that early wager has been repaid many times over, in the billions.
The Journey, Step by Step
To understand exactly how Alphabet built up its position in SpaceX and turned the listing into a windfall, it helps to walk through the timeline.
- 2015: This was the opening bet. Alongside Fidelity, Alphabet invested $1 billion and walked away with a 6% to 7.5% stake in SpaceX.
- 2015 to 2024: Over these years, Elon Musk's SpaceX scaled up its operations while steadily securing a decade's worth of funding rounds. During this stretch, the company also went through a strategic merger with xAI.
- 2025: Because SpaceX raised further funding, Alphabet's ownership slipped to an estimated 5% to 6.11%.
- 2026: The SpaceX stock IPO and its valuation sent the value of that investment soaring. With shares fixed at $135 each, the company's market cap climbed to a historic $1.77 trillion to $1.8 trillion.
The Listing and a $100 Billion Profit
The real fireworks came on Tuesday, when SpaceX stock surged to $192. At that level, Alphabet's 5% to 6% holding was suddenly worth a staggering $100 billion to $111 billion. That works out to a clear gain of more than $100 billion in a single decade, roughly a 100x return on the money it originally put in.
And Alphabet was not the only one to strike it rich. A wealthy Indian family office that invested in SpaceX back in 2017, buying employee stock options (ESOP) on the secondary market, also walked away with 100x returns on its money.
Alphabet Is Holding On, Not Selling
What stands out is that even after sitting on more than $100 billion in profit, Alphabet has not sold a single piece of its SpaceX position. The likely reason is that the company still believes in SpaceX's potential and is content to wait for the long haul, betting on even bigger rewards down the road. Having already crossed the finish line, Alphabet looks ready to run marathons more with Elon Musk's company. For the investors who got in early, the sky truly is the limit from here.
