Former SpaceX Welder Juan Hernandez Tops $1 Million After 6,500-Share IPO Windfall
Updated
Updated · CBS New York · Jun 12
Former SpaceX Welder Juan Hernandez Tops $1 Million After 6,500-Share IPO Windfall
3 articles · Updated · CBS New York · Jun 12
Summary
$160.95 a share at Friday's close valued former SpaceX welder Juan Hernandez's roughly 6,500 shares at $1,046,175, turning a onetime contract worker into a millionaire after the company's IPO.
A $10,000 stock grant when he joined SpaceX in 2015 drove the windfall; Hernandez said he barely understood equity then and had never received stock in earlier hourly jobs.
During a decade at SpaceX, Hernandez built launch-pad support structures, rose to supervisor and said employee ownership gave workers "skin in the game" and pushed them to perform better.
Now at Blue Origin, Hernandez said he plans to keep working and is teaching his three children to invest, framing the payout as a lesson in long-term ownership for ordinary workers.