{"id":7505,"date":"2026-06-16T03:04:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T03:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=7505"},"modified":"2026-06-16T03:04:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T03:04:51","slug":"australias-richest-person-just-bought-a-spacex-stake-worth-more-than-1-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=7505","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s richest person just bought a SpaceX stake worth more than $1 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-468992138-e1781555471284.jpg?w=2048\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Since its stock market debut on Friday, SpaceX has already hit a valuation of $2.5 trillion, and the company\u2019s got the attention of Australia\u2019s richest person.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Gina Rinehart announced on Monday that she\u2019s made a \u201csignificant investment\u201d in the company. The mining magnate\u2019s stake is worth more than $1 billion, the <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rinehart, 72, is the executive chairman of Hancock Prospecting, a major iron ore exporter, and is worth $36.9 billion, according to Bloomberg. The SpaceX holding is Hancock\u2019s largest investment outside of iron ore, the <em>Journal<\/em> reported, reflecting Rinehart\u2019s confidence and interest in the business.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe see SpaceX as a rare business, led by a truly exceptional person, technically exceptional and operating in sectors that are crucial and with long-term potential,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cSpaceX stands apart as the only company globally building integrated hardware and software across its core segments of space, connectivity, and AI.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX stock has surged during its first full day of trading, jumping nearly 20% to close at $192.50 on Monday after opening at $150 on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rinehart has met with Elon Musk several times, the company said. She cited SpaceX\u2019s many firsts in space<em>, <\/em>including being the first private company to dock at the International Space Station, and being first to deploy a large-scale broadband satellite constellation in low earth orbit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElon has done what very few people in history have done\u2014he has not just imagined the future, he has built companies capable of delivering it, and helped to keep American technology at the forefront,\u201d Rinehart continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The major investment in a U.S.-based company is consistent with the Australian\u2019s recent moves. Hancock Prospecting invested almost $100 million in U.S. weapons makers during the first quarter of 2026, including RTX, Northrop Grumman, L3Harris Technologies, and Lockheed Martin.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The company also bought a 6% stake worth about $34 million in Rare Earths Americas, a new U.S. miner. Outside of her mining business, Rinehart recently built her wealth on rare earth investments and amassed the world\u2019s largest portfolio outside of China since she first started investing in rare earths in 2020, Bloomberg reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe also see the possibility of mutually beneficial arrangements between SpaceX and Hancock Prospecting\u2019s significant critical minerals investments,\u201d Hancock Prospecting chief executive officer Garry Korte said in the statement. \u201cWe look forward to the potential of working with the SpaceX team on its exciting journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rinehart has been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump and expressed support for Musk\u2019s efforts to restrict the size of the government through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She was present at Trump\u2019s reelection campaign launch in 2022 and at his Mar-a-Lago election night party in 2024 that Musk also attended.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs Elon Musk says: \u2018The larger government gets, the less individual freedom you have. Your freedoms have just been eroded year after year with more and more government, laws and regulations, and regulatory authorities,\u2019\u201d the company wrote in the statement, quoting Musk\u2019s stump speech from a Trump campaign rally in 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>#Australias #richest #person #bought #SpaceX #stake #worth #billion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since its stock market debut on Friday, SpaceX has already hit a valuation of $2.5 trillion, and the company\u2019s got the attention of Australia\u2019s richest person.\u00a0 Gina Rinehart announced on&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9786,1056,101,665,743,3321,2128,9785,636,1843,1032,78],"class_list":["post-7505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-australias","tag-billion","tag-bought","tag-donald-trump","tag-elon-musk","tag-mining","tag-person","tag-rare-earth-metal","tag-richest","tag-spacex","tag-stake","tag-worth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}