Trump's SpaceX Stake Now Underwater After Post-IPO Purchase
President Donald Trump bought as much as $50,000 worth of SpaceX shares on June 23, according to a financial disclosure first reported by Reuters. The purchase came two weeks after the record-setting initial public offering of Elon Musk's company, and the stock has since fallen back to its IPO price, potentially leaving the president's stake underwater. The disclosure does not make clear what price Trump paid. By June 23, SpaceX shares had already fallen from highs of more than $200 and were tr
OST Staff · August 25, 2026
President Donald Trump bought as much as $50,000 worth of SpaceX shares on June 23, according to a financial disclosure first reported by Reuters. The purchase came two weeks after the record-setting initial public offering of Elon Musk's company, and the stock has since fallen back to its IPO price, potentially leaving the president's stake underwater.
The disclosure does not make clear what price Trump paid. By June 23, SpaceX shares had already fallen from highs of more than $200 and were trading in the mid-$150 range. At the close of trading on Monday, shares stood at $135, the level of the IPO price.
Trump and Musk are described as close, despite a brief falling out last summer in which the businessman accused the president of withholding the Department of Justice's files on Jeffrey Epstein because of how often Trump's name appears in them. SpaceX has been securing an increasing amount of government contracts and benefiting from the Trump administration's deregulatory stance, according to a recent Wall Street Journal analysis.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Reuters that the president's stock portfolio is managed by third-party financial institutions and replicates recognized indexes, such as the Schwab 1000. SpaceX lobbied popular indexes to change their rules to allow for faster inclusion ahead of its IPO, which means many people likely own some of the company's stock even if they do not know it.
A sitting president personally holding equity in a company that holds billions of dollars in government launch contracts represents a conflict-of-interest question with no obvious precedent. SpaceX is the primary launch provider for NASA, the Space Force, and the National Reconnaissance Office. Every contract award, regulatory decision, and policy choice involving the company now exists in the shadow of the president's personal financial stake.
What remains to be seen is whether the disclosure triggers a formal ethics review or any recusal requirement on upcoming SpaceX contract decisions.