Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has bought a $US1 billion ($1.4 billion) stake in SpaceX – the biggest investment outside iron ore in the private miner’s history, and a bet on Elon Musk days after his rocket and satellite company staged the largest float on record.
The investment has potentially delivered Rinehart a paper gain of about $190 million, based on the first day of trading for the much-hyped space business that is trading far above many of its peers, relative to its revenue.
SpaceX raised $US75 billion in its Nasdaq listing on June 12 in the biggest initial public offering ever, and closed its first session up 19.2 per cent and worth about $US2.1 trillion. The debut made Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
The investment deepens the alignment between Rinehart – a prominent supporter of conservative causes – with Musk, whom she has met several times and was photographed with at Mar-a-Lago after the 2024 US election.
Hancock’s announcement on Monday praised Musk’s role in the Trump administration’s controversial efficiency drive, known as DOGE.
Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, said the investment in SpaceX reflected Hancock’s confidence in Musk and “the need for the West to keep investing in technology and innovation”.
“We see SpaceX as a rare business: led by a truly exceptional person, technically exceptional and operating in sectors that are crucial,” she said in emailed remarks.
“SpaceX is yet another clear example of why the world needs more enterprise, more builders and much less bureaucracy. It has delivered lower costs and greater capability by moving with the urgency and discipline that bureaucracy too often delays or prevents.
“As Elon Musk says: ‘The larger government gets, the less individual freedom you have. Your freedoms have just been eroded year after year with more and more government, laws and regulations and regulatory authorities.’ ”
Morningstar analyst Nicolas Owens said that due to a small initial free float, robust demand, and anticipated inclusion in the Nasdaq 100, he expected “SpaceX’s share price to maintain strong performance in the short term and potentially elevate higher”.
“With a small initial float boosted by almost every investment bank on the planet, buoyant investor appetite for AI infrastructure bids, and an unprecedented path to inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 Index just 15 trading days after the IPO, we expect SpaceX’s share price will likely survive separation and even ascend toward orbit, at least for a time,” Owens said.
The stake is the single largest investment outside iron ore by Hancock, the closely held company that built a giant mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara and ranks among the world’s biggest exporters of the steelmaking commodity. The Australian Financial Review’s Rich List put her fortune about $39 billion this year.
The stake adds to a Hancock share portfolio that already holds Tesla, Nvidia, Trump Media & Technology Group and a growing line of US defence stocks, alongside critical minerals positions in MP Materials, Liontown Resources and Azure Minerals.
Hancock chief executive Garry Korte flagged possible “mutually beneficial arrangements” between SpaceX and the miner as demand grows for materials used in advanced technology. A spokesman said Hancock had no further plans to invest in space beyond SpaceX.
SpaceX’s record float was powered by retail investors, with the company setting aside up to 30 per cent of the offering – about triple the usual allocation – for individual buyers, including Australians. Do-it-yourself traders bought about $US118 million of the stock on the first day.
Hancock received its entire holding through its initial allocation in the heavily oversubscribed float and had not sold any shares, said a source close to the deal.
Rinehart, a vocal critic of taxes and red tape, has expanded into US assets tied to the Trump orbit, including Trump Media and a line of defence stocks. In Australia, Pauline Hanson has described her as an informal policy adviser to One Nation.
The mining magnate has also been expanding in media. Hancock holds nearly $100 million worth of shares in Fox Corp, owner of Fox News, and Rinehart has recently funded former Seven executive Bruce McWilliam’s roughly $26 million purchase of Southern Cross Media shares.
The bet on Musk is not without risk. SpaceX’s valuation leaves little room for error, and newly listed companies often swing hard in early trading.
Stake senior markets analyst Kylie Purcell warned investors to size positions carefully and treat the stock as part of a diversified portfolio, saying a generational company “rewards patience, not the opening auction”.
Much of the investment case rests on Musk delivering on a long-term vision that includes AI data centres in orbit and the colonisation of Mars, alongside the steadier Starlink satellite communications revenue that already underpins the company.
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David Swan is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X or email.
