Around 400 of them are now worth more than $100 million.
What caught my attention wasn't the money.
It was how many of those people got rich.
Some were engineers.
Some were technicians.
Some were welders.
Some worked in cafeterias.
Many of them weren't highly paid executives.
They simply owned stock in something they helped build.
Reports indicate that stock options and equity grants played a major role in creating this extraordinary wealth event. More than 4,400 current and former employees benefited from SpaceX's historic IPO, with many ordinary workers seeing life-changing financial gains through ownership.
The richest people don't just work for companies.
They own parts of them.
That is a completely different game.
Most people focus on salaries.
The wealthiest people focus on ownership.
A salary can change your lifestyle.
Ownership can change your family's future.
That's why equity is one of the most powerful forms of wealth creation.
While many people were chasing higher paychecks...
Others were accumulating ownership.
While many were looking for immediate rewards...
Others were patiently holding shares.
Years later, the difference became visible to the world.
I'm not one of the 4,400 millionaires.
But this story reminded me of something important:
Don't just ask,
"How much am I being paid?"
Also ask,
"What am I building, and do I own a piece of it?"
Because ownership is where ordinary work can become extraordinary wealth.
The biggest wealth transfers in history rarely come from wages alone.
They come from participating in the growth of something valuable and having a stake in its success.
The lesson isn't about SpaceX.
It's about thinking beyond income and understanding the long-term power of ownership.