Early SpaceX investor Ron Baron says Baron Capital bought an additional $1 billion of SpaceX shares during the company’s IPO, lifting the firm’s position to roughly $25 billion as SpaceX’s valuation surged to $2 trillion.
On the day SpaceX’s shares hit the public market, Ron Baron didn’t look like someone hunting for a quick win. He looked like someone doubling down.
Baron Capital purchased an additional $1 billion worth of SpaceX shares on Friday during the company’s initial public offering, Baron said. The move increased Baron Capital’s position in the Elon Musk-led rocket and satellite company to roughly $25 billion.
The purchase landed with added weight because Baron is not a latecomer to SpaceX’s story. He is among the company’s earliest and most enthusiastic institutional backers, and the buying came even after SpaceX’s valuation surged to $2 trillion.
“I think we’re going to make hundreds of billions of dollars. ” Baron said Monday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “What they’ve done isn’t possible for anyone else to accomplish. Not possible. And so he’s at least 10 years ahead of everyone else. as far as making satellites. as far as making rockets. as far as building networks.”.
Baron framed the timing as a choice about ownership rather than an attempt to trade. He said he participated in the IPO to maintain his firm’s ownership percentage while SpaceX sold new shares to the public.
“I didn’t want to get diluted,” Baron said. “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.”
The scale of that commitment becomes clearer when you look at how long Baron has been in the picture. He first invested in SpaceX in 2017 through employee tender offers, when the company was valued at less than $22 billion. Since then, he said his firm has participated in 27 funding rounds.
As of March 31, SpaceX accounted for 33% of assets in the $10.4 billion Baron Partners Fund and 25.5% of the Baron Asset Fund. With the firm’s sizable position in Tesla, Baron said about half of the assets in some Baron portfolios are tied to companies led by Musk.
Baron acknowledged that SpaceX’s valuation has climbed dramatically since his initial investment. Still, he argued the market still hasn’t fully captured what he expects from the company’s growth.
“I think that with now being valued at $2 trillion, I think it’s going to be valued in 10 years at $20 trillion, $30 trillion, $40 trillion,” Baron said.
For Baron. the bet isn’t just about rockets and satellites—it’s about the broader economic reach of Musk’s ambitions. “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.”.
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