SpaceX millionaires 4,000 x $1mil , 400 x $100 mil
Every employee who joined before the first succesful launch made (unless they sold early) more than $100 million.
SpaceX lists June 12 at ~$1.75T.
Work backward from the cap table. At $1.75T, clearing $100M takes ~0.0057% of the company.
- 2002β2008, first ~500 in: joined at a ~$50M company. Held to $1.75T = a 17,000x. The core of the club β maybe 150β250 left holding
- September 2008, SpaceX has first successful launch
- 2010β2016: joined at $1Bβ$10B. Needs a senior grant β directors, principal engineers, early Starlink. ~100β200
- C-suite board: Shotwell, Johnsen past $1B. A layer of SVPs below them clears $100M on equity, not salary. ~20β40
- Post-2016: joined at $20Bβ$350B. To hit $100M you'd have needed ~0.4% of the company. Impossible for an employee. This is the millionaire tier β almost none reach $100M
The tally:
~400β500 at $100M
A few dozen above $500M
A handful of billionaires past Musk
Same building. Same mission. Two orders of magnitude apart β set entirely by what year you walked in.
Early isn't a strategy. It's a date stamp.