Key Takeaways
- ARK added nearly 3.3 million SpaceX shares across three ETFs after the Nasdaq debut.
- Starlink, Starship, and xAI anchor ARK’s investment thesis, while BTC adds a crypto-market angle.
- ARK’s case rests on lower launch costs, Starlink scale, and AI-related demand.
ARK Builds SpaceX Position Across Three ETFs After Nasdaq Debut
Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management (ARK Invest) bought nearly 3.3 million shares of SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) on Friday, Investor’s Business Daily reported. The purchase placed Elon Musk’s newly public space company inside three ARK ETFs tied to innovation, automation, and space-focused technology.
ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), the firm’s flagship disruptive-technology fund, received the largest allocation with 1,690,839 SpaceX shares. That made SPCX 3.28% of ARKK. ARK Autonomous Technology ETF (ARKQ), which focuses on robotics, automation, energy, and transportation technology, added 736,442 shares.
SpaceX also became a major holding in ARK Space & Defense Innovation ETF (ARKX), which targets aerospace, defense, orbital systems, and related infrastructure. ARKX ended Friday with 538,341 SpaceX shares, making SPCX 6.89% of the fund. The stock represented 2.65% of ARKQ after the purchase.
ARK wrote:
“Through Starship, Starlink and the acquisition of xAI, we believe SpaceX is building a vertically integrated AI infrastructure for a much larger space economy.”
Trade records showed ARK cleared capital before building the SpaceX position. The firm sold nearly $280 million in stock positions during the week before the IPO. Friday’s sales included about 948,000 shares across 13 companies worth at least $48 million.
The named Friday sales included Advanced Micro Devices (Nasdaq: AMD), Roku (Nasdaq: ROKU), and Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU). ARK sold 80,536 AMD shares valued at a minimum of $13 million, 98,835 Roku shares worth at least $11.5 million, and 67,420 Baidu shares valued around $7.7 million.
Starlink, Starship, and xAI Shape ARK’s SpaceX Thesis
ARK’s SpaceX case links three Musk-led assets to a larger infrastructure strategy. Starship represents SpaceX’s next-generation launch system, Starlink provides satellite internet service, and xAI adds an artificial intelligence component following SpaceX’s acquisition of the company.
Launch economics sit at the center of that argument. ARK estimated SpaceX has lowered launch costs by about 95% since 2008, bringing costs below $1,000 per kilogram. The firm pointed to Falcon 9 reusability and Starlink’s commercial scale as evidence behind its thesis.
The firm wrote:
“For long-term shareholders, SpaceX’s IPO represents broader access to a company that we believe remains early in its value creation.”
SpaceX raised roughly $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation in its June 12 Nasdaq debut, while reported demand reached about $250 billion, or about four times the shares available. Musk has projected SpaceX could reach about $1 trillion in annual revenue by 2030, compared with Morgan Stanley’s reported $330 billion estimate for that year.
Big Short investor Steve Eisman said he “wouldn’t doubt” the possibility of a future merger between Tesla and SpaceX, though he added that such a transaction would not be attractive for SpaceX shareholders. Anthony Pompliano later publicly urged Musk to combine the two companies. SpaceX also held 18,712 BTC as of March 31, with a fair value of about $1.29 billion.
