During a monologue on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” the late-night host criticized Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO, calling the prospect of Musk becoming the world’s first trillionaire “unsettling” and linking the move to fears about how public markets could affect everyday sa
When SpaceX stepped into the public markets on Friday, June 12, Jimmy Kimmel didn’t treat it like a cool tech milestone. He treated it like a moment that could ripple into people’s paychecks and retirement accounts.
Speaking Thursday night on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!. ” the late-night host said the idea that Elon Musk could become the first trillionaire in world history is “unsettling.” Kimmel. 58. framed the leap not just as wealth. but as something stranger—pointing to Musk as “one of the weirdest people we’ve ever seen on this planet.”.
Kimmel’s comments followed SpaceX’s biggest corporate step yet: the once privately held commercial rocket company—established by Musk in 2002—filed into a Friday, June 12 initial public offering. With the listing on the U.S.-based Nasdaq, SpaceX began selling shares to the public for the first time.
The numbers hanging over the debut are enormous. The IPO is expected to raise a record $75 billion at a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion, Reuters previously reported. That valuation would be the largest public debut in market history and. if it holds. would position SpaceX as one of the most valuable U.S. private companies. Musk’s current net worth is listed as $1.1 trillion, according to Forbes.
Kimmel tied the milestone to a much more personal worry: what happens when a company like SpaceX becomes a mainstream holding through retirement plans. He joked that the same IPO that could push Musk into trillionaire status could also put everyday people’s money to work in ways they may not fully choose.
“Heck, this maneuver could make Elon a trillionaire and your parents Walmart greeters,” Kimmel quipped.
He went further. saying Musk has “the ability and means to blow up the moon” while also having “the ability… to put a lot of other people’s money in his pockets.” In the same stretch of remarks. Kimmel questioned whether Musk’s future plans—specifically a focus on Mars—had to wait while markets rewarded the wealthiest positions.
“Wasn’t he supposed to be going to Mars? Can’t we chip in to help speed that up?” Kimmel said.
His pushback echoes a wider debate about extreme wealth and public market influence that has followed Musk for years. The monologue referenced a moment in November when pop star Billie Eilish called the Tesla CEO “pathetic” and a “coward” on social media after shareholders approved a separate deal that had the potential to make Musk a trillionaire. Kimmel echoed that sentiment in his remarks.
As SpaceX’s IPO moves from private imagination to public trading. the fear Kimmel lands on is simple: the public can end up financing the richest outcomes. When a company becomes investable to millions. the question shifts from “how large is the valuation?” to “whose money is being counted when the numbers get this big?”.
Editor’s note: this story also came during a broader moment of political and media friction. Kimmel, during the Disney Upfront, had joked that his clashes with President Donald Trump have cost ABC and the Walt Disney Corporation “billions.”
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