Alphabet's SpaceX bet grows to $94b

Google parent becomes largest institutional holder as bets multiply 100-fold

BENGALURU:

Alphabet's early bet on SpaceX has multiplied more than 100-fold, with the Google parent disclosing a stake worth about $94 billion at the end of June, up from a $900 million investment in Elon Musk's rocket company in 2015.

Alphabet has emerged as by far the largest single institutional holder of SpaceX following its $86 billion initial public offering in June, according to a Reuters' analysis of publicly available quarterly filings.

Other investors to unveil their holdings after the IPO include early backer Fidelity Investments, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, and Hancock Prospecting, the holding company controlled by Australian mining mogul Gina Rinehart.

The filings shed light on the scale of positions acquired by SpaceX's backers as the company transitioned from a closely held startup to a publicly traded giant. Together with separate public disclosures on early investments, including Alphabet's, they also highlight how dramatically the value of some early investments in SpaceX has grown.

Because the 13F filing data is compiled once per quarter and disclosed within six weeks of quarter-end, the information is dated and will not capture buying or selling done by these large investors since June 30.

There are other limitations as well, given the vast universe of SpaceX investments and the evolving schedule of when they stand to become eligible to be sold in public markets.

"It's very, very difficult to tease out which of these institutions were holding pre-IPO shares," said Steve Sosnick, market strategist at Interactive Brokers.

Alphabet is an exception because the company publicly disclosed that it invested $900 million in SpaceX in 2015, providing a rare benchmark for comparing the value of its current holding.

Sosnick added that the 13F filings did not reveal investors' lockup status or intentions with respect to realising profits on pre-IPO positions.

Alphabet held 551.2 million SpaceX shares at the end of the second quarter, according to the firm's filing, worth about $94.2 billion at SpaceX's June 30 share price of $170.86. At Thursday's price, Alphabet's disclosed position would be worth about $77.9 billion, still about 86.5 times Google's original investment.