Luca Parmitano to pilot all-male crew of four paving way for planned first human landing of Artemis IV in 2028

Jared Isaacman, the Nasa administrator, hailed the creation of “Earth’s first starfleet” on Tuesday as he revealed the Artemis III crew and details of the next stages of the space agency’s project to return humans to the moon.

An Italian astronaut, Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency (ESA), will be the pilot of the planned two-week mission to lower Earth orbit next year that will test lunar landers from private companies Blue Origin and SpaceX.

PARIS June 13 — As SpaceX completed the biggest initial public offering in history, controversial entrepreneur Elon Musk saw his wealth blow past the symbolic – and unprecedented – level of a trillion dollars.

Following strong demand for shares in the space technology as part of the IPO, they jumped more than 20 per cent when they began trading on the Nasdaq Friday.

That lifted the estimated wealth of the South Africa-born Musk, 54, to above US$1 trillion (RM4.05 trillion) , according to Bloomberg and CNBC.

That takes him into an uncharted zone of the mega-wealth stratosphere, leaving Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as Amazon creator Jeff Bezos trailing in his wake, according to data from Forbes and Bloomberg.

But what could a discerning unfathomably rich investor actually do with a cool trillion at his disposal?

That’s around the wealth produced over a year by entire countries, such as Switzerland or Poland (US$1,040 billion GDP in 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund).

Or, if you prefer, see it in terms of totalling three times the current value of France’s gold reserves.

Yet Musk’s wealth is considerably different to that afforded by precious metal, a tangible asset with safe-haven status owing to its reputation for stability.

Musk’s wealth mostly derives from his stock portfolio, the value of which fluctuates and can be decidedly volatile.

“If Elon Musk wanted to sell off a huge chunk of his shares to buy real estate or whatever, the stock price would drop hugely,” warned Alexandre Baradez, head of market analysis for investment company IG France.

That would mechanically see his total wealth follow the same trend.

“There’s the law of supply and demand,” Baradez said.

“But there’s also, and maybe even more importantly, the psychological effect: a massive sale of Elon Musk’s shares, given the strong influence he has on his companies’ strategies, would send a very strong signal to the market.”

Other investors would likely follow suit, which would further decrease the stock’s value, and ultimately, the fortune of a man who would revert from being a trillionaire to merely a multi-multi-billionaire. — AFP

Environmental groups say exchange between US government and SpaceX would worsen ecological risks

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Environmental groups on Wednesday sued in an attempt to stop the Trump administration from giving SpaceX more than 700 acres (280 hectares) of wildlife refuge in Texas, claiming it would worsen ecological risks to a Gulf coast region already transformed by billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket operations.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service this month approved moving forward with the deal with SpaceX, which would surrender 683 acres (276 hectares) the company owns in exchange for federal land in the Lower Rio Grande Valley national wildlife refuge. The 103,000-acre (41,700-hectare) refuge spans four counties along the Texas border and is home to animal habitats and historical landmarks.

Former xAI engineer Devin Kim alleges he was illegally fired for trying to implement safety mechanisms for the chatbot

A former engineer at Elon Musk’s xAI who now heads a thinktank focused on AI safety filed a lawsuit claiming he was fired from the SpaceX subsidiary for raising concerns about the risks artificial intelligence poses to humanity.

Devin Kim claims in the lawsuit filed in California state court on Tuesday that his efforts to place guardrails on the development of the chatbot Grok made him a target for company leadership.

NEW YORK, June 12— Few business leaders have been as deeply embedded in ‌popular culture as Elon Musk, the ambitious entrepreneur who has become a central figure in internet culture and amassed a fortune that has ​made him the world's first trillionaire.

At a time when concerns about inequality are high and public attitudes toward the ultra-wealthy have soured, Musk has managed to retain a loyal following despite his stratospheric net worth and without the folksy persona that endeared other tycoons such as Warren Buffett to the masses.

While admirers view Musk's no-filter style ‌as part of his appeal, critics have accused him of wielding oligarch-like power, raised concerns about governance at his companies and objected to his increasingly partisan political interventions.

Still, SpaceX, the ​sprawling rocket, satellite and AI company that together with electric-car maker Tesla form the center of Musk's empire, raised a record US$75 billion in its initial public offering yesterday, highlighting investor enthusiasm for his business ventures.

Prior to the share sale, Forbes pegged his net worth at roughly US$780 billion, far ahead of the man next in line, Alphabet co-founder Larry Page.

"The second richest person has been hovering around US$300 billion, so about less than one-third of what Musk can potentially be worth tomorrow," ​said Matt Durot, deputy editor at Forbes Wealth.

"And only one other person, (Oracle founder) Larry Ellison, has ever been worth US$400 billion.”

Most of Musk's wealth now rests with SpaceX, where he holds a stake worth roughly US$866 billion.

Along with Tesla and the rest of his properties, his net worth will exceed US$1.1 trillion when the stock begins trading Friday, according to Forbes and Reuters calculations based on company filings.

Musk became a household name through Tesla and SpaceX before expanding his influence with the US$44-billion acquisition of social media platform Twitter in 2022.

The deal gave him a direct channel to hundreds of millions of users and made him a prominent voice on issues ranging from politics and immigration to government spending and free speech.

His move into politics, particularly his role in U.S. President Donald Trump's Department ‌of Government Efficiency last year, has been among his most contentious ventures.

The political fallout coincided with weakening Tesla sales in several international markets in 2025 as protests and consumer boycotts targeted the electric vehicle ⁠maker.

The Elon premium

Musk, 54, was born in Pretoria, South Africa, to a Canadian mother and South African ⁠father. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1997.

He took over as Tesla's CEO in 2008 with the conviction that electric vehicles could ⁠combine high performance with software-driven features, helping redefine the global ⁠automotive industry.

Some auto-industry watchers say Tesla’s success - and its ⁠trillion-dollar-plus market cap - helped prod traditional automakers to pivot to electric cars.

Many investors are betting he can repeat the feat in space and artificial intelligence. Yet SpaceX remains cash-hungry, and much of the company's valuation rests on technologies that may take years or decades to become commercially viable.

Beyond Tesla and SpaceX, Musk has co-founded five other companies, including tunneling startup The Boring Company and brain implant maker Neuralink.

As CEO of Tesla, Musk ⁠has courted controversy and praise in equal measure. He is credited with turning Tesla into the world's most valuable automaker.

Executives at legacy automakers dismissed the threat for years, skeptical that a startup car company could figure out how to mass produce electric vehicles profitably.

"He renewed the world's respect for American ingenuity in automotive engineering,” said Bob Lutz, a former General Motors vice chairman.

At the same time, Tesla has faced legal challenges and shareholder concerns tied to its storied CEO, particularly his 2018 pay package, once worth US$56 billion.

Musk's influence has become so pervasive that market observers have dubbed the network of businesses around him the "Muskonomy."

The phenomenon has given rise to what some investors call the "Elon premium," a valuation boost driven as much by faith in Musk's vision as by traditional financial metrics.

"Much like Tesla, SpaceX is a bet ⁠on Elon Musk," said Matt Kennedy, senior ‍strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs.

"A market cap of US$1.5 trillion-US$2 trillion would certainly throw all traditional valuation methodologies out the window, and is instead best characterized as the 'Elon Musk premium.'"

Musk unfiltered

The concentration of influence around a single entrepreneur has amplified concerns about corporate governance, conflicts of interest and the ⁠risks of tying company fortunes too closely to one individual.

Over the years, Musk has turned clashes with regulators, billionaires, short sellers, journalists and media organizations, including Reuters, into recurring public battles that often unfolded on social media.

Musk's ⁠alliance with Trump followed a ⁠familiar pattern. After helping bankroll Trump's return to the White House and serving in a senior advisory role through the administration's DOGE initiative, Musk became one of the president's closest corporate allies.

The relationship later fractured amid disagreements over policy and spending, spilling ​into a public feud.

Though the two have since struck a more conciliatory tone, their falling-out highlighted the increasingly blurred lines between ​Musk's business empire and political ambitions.

Yet for many investors, concerns about Musk's often unconventional behavior are outweighed ‌by his track record of turning ambitious ideas into some of the world's most valuable companies.

"Elon is the Edison of our time," ​JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said during a recent conversation with Musk.

The ​banker, a former adversary of Musk in a prolonged legal battle, has since become an admirer. Dimon told CNBC last year that the pair had "hugged it out," and hailed Musk as "our Einstein." — Reuters 

NEW YORK, June 12 — Elon Musk’s SpaceX yesterday confirmed it will begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange today in the biggest initial public offering in history, a blockbuster market debut that could propel the entrepreneur to trillionaire status.

In a filing with the US markets regulator, the company priced more than 555 million shares at US$135 each, placing SpaceX in the top 10 of Wall Street’s biggest companies with a valuation of just under US$1.8 trillion.

It will be valued more than Musk’s own Tesla car company, Facebook-owner Meta and Walmart.

The offering will raise a record US$75 billion, easily outranking Saudi Aramco’s US$29.4 billion debut in 2019, until now the biggest ever.

Underwriters hold an option to buy nearly 83 million additional shares, which would push the total above US$86 billion if exercised in full.

The space and rocket company, co-founded by Musk in 2002, will trade under the ticker symbol “SPCX,” with a parallel listing on Nasdaq Texas. All eyes will be on how Wall Street absorbs the offering, which could send tremors across global markets.

SpaceX will be the first out of the gates among the tech and AI giants eyeing public markets, with OpenAI and Anthropic expected to follow—both having recently filed with regulators for their own market debuts.

As is traditional for high-profile debuts, executives are expected to ring the opening bell on Friday to mark the start of the session—in this case at New York’s Times Square, home of the Nasdaq.

The IPO is Musk’s biggest financial gamble yet, with his xAI company and the X social media platform (formerly Twitter) also included in the offering after the multi-billionaire folded them into the company earlier this year.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America led a syndicate of more than 20 banks on the deal.

The offering was more than four times oversubscribed by major banks and financial institutions, according to Bloomberg, with interest from everyday investors reported to be high.

More than 20 percent of the shares will be reserved for these retail investors, a far greater proportion than is typically allocated in IPOs, giving Musk’s legions of fans a chance to buy a slice of the company.

Data centers in space 

The success of the IPO rests squarely on investors’ faith in Musk as a visionary entrepreneur. The tech multi-billionaire will serve as chief executive, chief technology officer and board chairman of the newly traded company.

The IPO is expected to mint thousands of new millionaires and many billionaires, with former and current employees—and a long list of investors—from the company’s near quarter-century history looking to cash in.

The financials of the company are giving some on Wall Street pause, as the valuation largely depends on Musk delivering on promises worthy of science fiction, including putting data centers in space and humans on Mars using as yet unproven technology.

While the company is growing fast—revenue hit US$18.7 billion in 2025 — it is also losing money, producing a net loss of US$4.9 billion.

In an extraordinary prediction, SpaceX’s filing claims it can pull in over US$28.5 trillion in revenue from its various markets.

A successful IPO could make him the first trillionaire in history today. 

Musk’s fortune yesterday stood at US$782 billion, according to the Forbes list of the world’s richest people, nearing three times the wealth of number two, Google co-founder Larry Page.

“A trillion dollars in the hands of one man is incompatible not only with an affordable economy, but also with a healthy democracy,” said Nabil Ahmed, senior director of economic justice at Oxfam America.

On the eve of the trading launch, activists displayed a giant inflatable Musk outside Nasdaq’s offices to protest the ability to create fake sexualized images using xAI’s Grok chatbot. — AFP