Google's $1 Billion SpaceX Bet from 2015 Is Now Worth $94.1 Billion and It Can't Sell a Single Share

Alphabet Holds $94.1 Billion in SpaceX Stock It Cannot Trade

Alphabet disclosed in its second-quarter earnings filing that its equity stake in SpaceX is valued at $94.1 billion as of June 30. The position stems from a January 2015 deal in which Google and investment firm Fidelity together invested $1 billion in SpaceX for a combined stake of just under 10%. Alphabet now holds about 4.9% of the company, down from roughly 6% before recent dilution 1.

None of it can be sold. About $80 billion of the stake sits under standard post-IPO lockup restrictions. The remaining $14.1 billion is locked through the third quarter of 2027 1.

Alphabet is holding $94.1 billion in unsellable shares while its capital spending plan for 2026 has climbed to a range of $195 billion to $205 billion. Free cash flow swung to negative $5.9 billion last quarter. In June, the company raised $49.6 billion by selling new stock, all while barred from touching a single SpaceX share 1.

Paper gains, however spectacular, do not fund data centers.

What the filing reveals

The SpaceX position flows through Alphabet's income statement as an unrealized gain. Second-quarter net income rose 298% year over year to $112.1 billion. Earnings per share climbed 294% to $9.11. The driver was not advertising or cloud computing. Alphabet marked up shares it is not allowed to sell. The operating business, where revenue grew 24% year over year and Google Cloud is accelerating, gets overshadowed on the income statement by a line item that converts mark-to-market accounting into apparent profit 1.

This filing puts a precise number on Alphabet's SpaceX investment for the first time. The company has held the stake for over a decade, but SpaceX's June IPO converted a private valuation into a publicly traded reference price. SpaceX now carries a market value of roughly $1.5 trillion, about 150 times what the entire company was worth when Google and Fidelity made their investment 1.

The lockup clock

Restrictions on Alphabet's stake begin easing after SpaceX delivers its first earnings report, scheduled for August 4. Alphabet has not said anything about selling 1.

But the supply question exists regardless of Alphabet's intentions. SpaceX shares went public at $135 in June, peaked at $225.64, and have since fallen to roughly $116, a decline of nearly 49% from the high. SpaceX is still losing money at a market value near $1.5 trillion, and one outside holder is sitting on $94 billion of stock that will eventually be free to trade 1.

Paper gains move in both directions. SpaceX shares have fallen since June 30, so the stake is already worth less than the filing's mark 1.

A decade of strategic bets, now measurable

Until SpaceX's June IPO, the return on Alphabet's decade-old investment existed only as a private valuation too opaque for outside observers to verify. A public market price, combined with the SEC filing requirement, turned that position into a line item investors can read for the first time.

Investors have already looked past the headline. Alphabet shares fell about 7% on the report as markets focused on the capital spending increase and the swing to negative free cash flow 1. The market's verdict: $94.1 billion in locked-up shares is a footnote to whether Alphabet's AI spending will generate returns.

When the lockup expires, that calculus changes. A company with a spending plan approaching $200 billion and $94 billion in newly liquid shares has every reason to monetize part of the position. The price impact of even a partial sale would land on SpaceX stock already trading 49% below its post-IPO peak.