GERMANY PERSPECTIVE

Berlin watches the surge from Frankfurt with avowed concern, summed up in a headline: 'the worrying power of Elon Musk.' The German financial press gives the figures — first trade at $150, 11% above the $135 offer price, close at $161, valuation above two trillion, placing SpaceX among the ten biggest US companies behind Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon — but the analysis goes further than the ticker. The verdict is harsh: 'With SpaceX, Musk has shown once again that he can rely on the devotion of his investor community.' The valuation 'dramatically' jumped: $400 billion a year ago in off-market sales, $800 billion six months ago, more than $2,000 billion today. In between, SpaceX bought Musk's loss-making xAI 'at a surprisingly high valuation,' xAI having itself paid dearly for the X platform with its declining ad revenue — a stacking of valuations 'accepted without batting an eye' by the markets. For Germany, home to an economic culture wary of speculation and attached to real industrial value, one man's ascent to first 'Billionär' in history 'should give the broader public pause.' The term 'Investition in die Hoffnung' — investment in hope — recurs as a warning: behind the record lies a concentration of financial and political power in the hands of a single man that Berlin observes with a vigilance few capitals voice so plainly.