Elon Musk’s SpaceX has set a new high-bar for its valuation, at around $210 billion according to reports.
The new valuation was set by ‘insider’ share sales priced at $112 per share, as reported by Bloomberg.
It is a boost for London-listed investment group, Scottish Mortgage Trust, as the space company represents around 4.4% of its portfolio.
The share sale comes as SpaceX has been handed a $843 million contract to drag the International Space Station (ISS) out of the Earth’s orbit and to its destruction.
This price excludes any launch services which will be the subject of a future procurement process.
A consortium of spacefaring nations responsible for the ISS have only agreed to cover the maintenance of the station until 2030, and have now hired Elon Musk to engineer a towing vehicle to pull it out of orbit.
The ISS will “destructively break up” as it moves through the Earth’s atmosphere, NASA said,
SpaceX will build the ‘deorbit’ spacecraft, but NASA will take over the mission and manage the destruction and re-entry process.
NASA, in a statement, meanwhile, hinted that the future potential for commercially operated space stations, as replacements to the government-funded multi-national stations such as the ISS.
“This decision also supports NASA’s plans for future commercial destinations and allows for the continued use of space near Earth,” NASA administrator Ken Bowersox said.
