{"id":245056,"date":"2026-06-08T23:14:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T23:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/former-spacex-welders-10000-equity-grant-is-now-worth-nearly-900000-ahead-of-ipo\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T23:14:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T23:14:21","slug":"former-spacex-welders-10000-equity-grant-is-now-worth-nearly-900000-ahead-of-ipo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/former-spacex-welders-10000-equity-grant-is-now-worth-nearly-900000-ahead-of-ipo\/","title":{"rendered":"Former SpaceX Welder\u2019s $10,000 Equity Grant is Now Worth Nearly $900,000 Ahead of IPO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption><span class=\"copyright\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A former SpaceX welder is heading into the company&#8217;s IPO with a life-changing payday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Juan Hernandez<\/strong>, who immigrated from Mexico and joined SpaceX as a contractor in 2015, reportedly holds stock worth about $880,000 ahead of the company&#8217;s public debut. According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/business\/meet-the-spacex-employees-who-are-about-to-become-overnight-millionaires-1a1a1370\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\"><em>Wall Street Journal<\/em> profile<\/a>, <strong>Hernandez<\/strong> built the stake from a $10,000 equity grant he received after joining the aerospace company.<\/p>\n<p>The story has become a buzzy human-interest story surrounding SpaceX&#8217;s record-breaking IPO, which is expected to value the company at roughly $1.77 trillion. SpaceX plans to sell 555.6 million shares at $135 each under the ticker SPCX, targeting a massive $75 billion raise.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hernandez<\/strong> started at SpaceX earning $28 per hour before moving into a full-time position. Along with stock that vested over five years, he continued building his ownership stake by purchasing additional shares through payroll deductions, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/beincrypto.com\/spacex-ipo-welder-millionaire-windfall\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Be In Crypto<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The former SpaceX employee sold part of his holdings in 2020 to purchase property in Texas. Even after that sale, the value of his remaining shares has continued to climb.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s put me in a comfortable position for life,&#8221; <strong>Hernandez<\/strong> said in the <em>WSJ<\/em> profile.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hernandez<\/strong> isn&#8217;t the only employee expected to benefit. <strong>Justin Lopas<\/strong>, co-founder and COO of Base Power and a former SpaceX employee, recently <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JLopas\/status\/2063635135744946422?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2063635135744946422%7Ctwgr%5E2ab168ec413b6481cc588244451847321c87fb08%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbeincrypto.com%2Fspacex-ipo-welder-millionaire-windfall%2F\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">said on X<\/a> that many of the company&#8217;s welders and technicians are poised to walk away with six- or seven-figure stock holdings.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/2026\/06\/08\/former-spacex-welders-10000-equity-grant-is-now-worth-nearly-900000-ahead-of-ipo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Former SpaceX Welder&#8217;s $10,000 Equity Grant is Now Worth Nearly $900,000 Ahead of IPO<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Just Jared &#8211; Celebrity News and Gossip | Entertainment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justjared.com\/2026\/06\/08\/former-spacex-welders-10000-equity-grant-is-now-worth-nearly-900000-ahead-of-ipo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Images A former SpaceX welder is heading into the company&#8217;s IPO with a life-changing payday. Juan Hernandez, who immigrated from Mexico and joined SpaceX as a contractor in 2015, reportedly holds stock worth about $880,000 ahead of the company&#8217;s public debut. According to a Wall Street Journal profile, Hernandez built the stake from a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":245057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-245056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lifestyle"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}