What the SpaceX IPO Tells us About Global Wealth 

When SpaceX begins trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX on June 12th, it will do so at a reported valuation of $1.75 trillion, making it the largest IPO in stock market history. The moment is significant not just as a financial event, but as a data point in a broader story that has been unfolding for several years.

The world’s millionaire population has grown at a pace that would have seemed improbable a decade ago.

According to Altrata data, the number of millionaires globally reached 50.9 million individuals in 2025, up from 37 million in 2021. That is a rise of more than a third in just five years. Collectively, these individuals now hold wealth exceeding $200 trillion, a figure equivalent to more than 1.5 times annual global GDP.

Several factors have converged to produce this recent acceleration. Lower inflation has preserved the real value of existing assets. Fiscal and monetary support sustained economic activity through a volatile period. Corporate earnings proved more resilient than many analysts expected. And investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence has injected significant momentum into capital markets, the effects of which are now visible in headline-grabbing valuations from some of the world’s most prominent private companies.

This last factor deserves particular attention. So far, AI and AI investment has been driving up market valuations across venture portfolios, public equities, and private markets alike. The SpaceX IPO is a major example of what that enthusiasm looks like at scale (along with planned IPOs in the works by Anthropic and OpenAI).

The growth in millionaire numbers has not been evenly distributed geographically. US millionaire growth has run at roughly twice the pace of the rest of the world over this period. In 2021, the US accounted for 41% of the global total. By 2025, that figure had risen to 47%. A comparatively resilient domestic economy, sustained fiscal and monetary stimulus, and the depth of US capital markets, particularly in technology, have all contributed to this outperformance.

What comes next is less uncertain. The factors that have driven millionaire growth over the past five years are not guaranteed to persist in their current form. In the longer term, investor enthusiasm for AI will need to meet expectations around profitability and adoption. Geopolitical and macroeconomic dynamics, meanwhile, continue to shift. Nonetheless, Altrata expects millionaire growth to be driven primarily by technological transformation, private capital expansion, and the restructuring of the world economy around AI, energy transition, and digital infrastructure. How these dynamics evolve will have a material bearing on the rate at which the millionaire population continues to expand. 

The global wealthy population is larger and more geographically dispersed. For wealth managers, luxury brands, and philanthropic advisors, knowing where wealth is growing is only part of the picture. Understanding who holds it, what they care about, and who they know has never mattered more.

Altrata tracks the world’s wealthy individuals across every major market. To learn more about how our data and intelligence can inform your strategy, get in touch with our team.