ARK Invest buys millions of SpaceX shares on listing day: Cathie Wood's portfolio grows by $500 million
On the day of SpaceX's long-awaited initial public offering, June 15, the ARK Invest team led by Cathie Wood executed a massive trade. The fund's analysts purchased nearly 3.3 million shares of Elon Musk's company, making it one of the largest single investments in ARK's portfolio in recent months.
The deal amount was impressive: by the end of the first trading session, the value of the acquired position exceeded $500 million. SpaceX shares started at $135 each, but by the close of trading, they had risen 19.2%, reaching $160.95. Such rapid growth indicates high demand from institutional investors, who see SpaceX not just as a rocket company, but as a key player in the future space economy.
The main blow fell on the flagship ETF
The lion's share of the purchase was made through the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), Cathie Wood's flagship exchange-traded fund. In its portfolio, SpaceX shares now account for 3.28%, making this position one of the most significant among the fund's technology assets. Notably, ARK traditionally bets on companies with high growth potential in the innovation sector, and SpaceX fits perfectly into this strategy.
My expert opinion: This move by ARK Invest is not just a speculative purchase on a hot IPO. It is a long-term bet that space technology will become a new mainstream, comparable in scale to the internet or semiconductors. Given that SpaceX controls a significant portion of the commercial launch market and is actively developing Starlink, this investment looks strategically sound. However, investors should remember: the space sector remains high-risk, and volatility here can be extreme.