Rather than cashing out during SpaceX’s high-profile market debut, long-time investor Ron Baron chose to deepen his commitment to the company.
The billionaire revealed that Baron Capital acquired an additional $1 billion in shares during the initial public offering, bringing the firm’s total stake in Elon Musk’s aerospace and satellite venture to approximately $25 billion.
Despite the company’s valuation reaching a staggering $2 trillion, this latest acquisition underscores the unwavering confidence of one of the firm’s earliest institutional supporters.
Speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday, Baron expressed immense optimism, stating, “I think we’re going to make hundreds of billions of dollars.” He emphasized that SpaceX’s achievements are unprecedented, noting that Musk remains at least a decade ahead of any competitors in rocket production, satellite manufacturing, and network infrastructure.
Baron explained that his participation in the IPO was a strategic move to prevent equity dilution as the company issued new shares to the public. “I didn’t want to get diluted,” Baron clarified. “I wanted a billion dollars to keep our percentage the same… I’m an investor in a business. I’m not buying and selling or trading.”
Baron’s history with SpaceX began in 2017 via employee tender offers when the company’s valuation was under $22 billion. Since then, he has participated in 27 separate funding rounds.
As of March 31, SpaceX represented 33% of the assets in the $10.4 billion Baron Partners Fund and 25.5% of the Baron Asset Fund. When combined with the firm’s significant holdings in Tesla, roughly half of some Baron portfolios are concentrated in Musk-led enterprises.
While acknowledging the rapid surge in valuation, Baron believes the market is still underestimating the company’s long-term trajectory. He predicted that SpaceX, currently valued at $2 trillion, could reach a valuation of $20 trillion to $40 trillion within the next decade.
The veteran investor further suggested that Musk’s vision transcends mere business success, arguing that his innovations could fundamentally accelerate global economic growth. “Normally, our economy doubles roughly every 10 years,” Baron said. “What he thinks is, by the innovations and the work that he’s doing, he’s going to make the economy grow 10 times in 10 years, not double.”