Kingdom Holding Co. Sees Significant Boost from SpaceX Share Debut

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's investment firm, Kingdom Holding Co., saw its market valuation rise significantly after SpaceX's shares surged on their first day of trading. The Saudi firm's holding in SpaceX is now valued at nearly $7 billion, which accounts for roughly half of Kingdom Holding's market capitalization.

Kingdom Holding reported that it holds 42.4 million shares in SpaceX, valued at $6.8 billion based on the company’s closing price. Following this development, Kingdom shares increased by as much as 5%, pushing the company's valuation to 56 billion riyals ($14.9 billion).

SpaceX, officially known as Space Exploration Technologies, commenced trading on Friday following a $75 billion listing, which is noted as the largest listing of its kind. Its stock concluded its first day of trading up 19% at $160.95, generating substantial returns for several firms.

Other investors also benefited, including Founders Fund, led by Peter Thiel, which owns approximately a 3% stake. Andreessen Horowitz is reportedly set to receive its largest return in its history, while Sequoia Capital, an early backer of SpaceX, holds about 1.5% of the company.

Kingdom Holding previously stated its stake represents 0.34% of SpaceX, while Prince Alwaleed's personal exposure totals about 0.29% in Elon Musk’s aerospace company. These holdings have elevated Prince Alwaleed's net worth to just over $27 billion, marking a decade-high, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Prince Alwaleed first invested with Elon Musk in 2022 during the acquisition of Twitter, now X.

The SpaceX listing is expected to benefit other Saudi Arabian investors, including the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which holds a stake in Kingdom Holding. The PIF-backed AI firm, Humain, invested $3 billion in Musk’s xAI earlier this year as part of a $20 billion funding round, with its holdings intended to convert into SpaceX shares.

Regional investors in the Gulf have also been expanding their positions across the AI ecosystem. Abu Dhabi’s MGX holds stakes in Anthropic PBC, OpenAI, and xAI. Qatar has pursued a similar strategy, investing in both Anthropic and xAI. Some Gulf investors have been making bets on transformative technologies for years; for example, Abu Dhabi’s IHC invested in SpaceX in 2020, and Aabar took a stake in Virgin Galactic in 2009.

According to Fortune, these investments underscore a broader regional strategy to diversify economies away from oil, with artificial intelligence becoming a central component.