This former welder turned millionaire overnight, thanks to SpaceX IPO: Here is how much shares he owns

Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire on Friday after his rocket and satellite company, SpaceX, made its debut on Wall Street. However, it wasn't just Musk whose title changed. The SpaceX listing, one of the biggest IPOs in history, made a welder who worked at his company for nearly a decade a millionaire.

CBS News reported on Saturday that before Juan Hernandez became a welder at SpaceX, he had never even heard of the company. In an exclusive interview, he said, "It was just another contract job for me at the time."

Hernandez, who now works at Jeff Bezos-owned rocket startup Blue Origin, has approximately 6,500 SpaceX shares. On Friday, the rocket and satellite company's shares closed at $160.95, valuing his holdings at $1,046,175 (around ₹9.51 crore, with his exact 6,500 shares valued at ₹9.95 crore).

Hernandez's journey at SpaceX

According to his interview, he first heard about the company from a friend who was working as a welder there. Hernandez's friend knew his background and figured he'd be a good fit for the job.

"I thought in my head, I don't know what SpaceX is, but let's go," Hernandez said. When Hernandez was first hired in 2015, he said the company offered him $10,000 worth of stock. However, at the time, he did not think much of it, since his other jobs, which paid him on an hourly basis, had never offered him stock before.

He added, "It wasn't a big deal. I didn't know anything about it then. I didn't know it was gonna be this big at this point."

During his ten-year stint at SpaceX, Hernandez initially worked as a welder and prepared rockets for takeoff by building the structures that lifted them onto the launch pad and the infrastructure that held them in place. Later, he rose through the ranks to become a supervisor.

He said offering employees a stake in the company helps them feel they have skin in the game and pushes them to succeed. "They will perform a lot better because, I mean, it's their company as well," Hernandez added.

SpaceX goes public

The company's shares started trading on the Nasdaq late Friday morning under the ticker symbol SPCX, marking the long-awaited Wall Street debut of the rocket and satellite company. The stock offering also turned SpaceX founder Musk into the world's first trillionaire.

Although his financial situation has changed dramatically, Hernandez says he has no intention of leaving his job. Instead, he plans to dedicate more time to teaching his children the importance of investing and building long-term financial security. He has already started introducing his teenage daughter to the basics of the stock market.

SpaceX listing boosts fortunes for many

The company's blockbuster market debut has reportedly made thousands of SpaceX employees millionaires as the stock surged following the company's Nasdaq listing.

The company's share surge also boosted the fortunes of one of Saudi Arabia's richest men, Bloomberg reported. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s investment firm, Kingdom Holding Co., surged at Sunday's open after SpaceX’s share gains on its first day of trading drove the value of the Saudi firm's holding to almost $7 billion, or roughly half its market capitalisation.

The company said it holds 42.4 million shares in SpaceX, valued at $6.8 billion based on the company's closing price. Kingdom shares rose by as much as five per cent, valuing the company at 56 billion riyals ($14.9 billion).