Antonio Gracias, a longtime associate of Elon Musk, provided a $1 million loan to Tesla during the electric vehicle company's early financial difficulties. Now, Gracias could see his wealth surge significantly when SpaceX goes public, according to a report by Fortune.
Gracias' SpaceX Stake
Entities linked to Gracias' investment firm, Valor Equity Partners, collectively hold over 500 million shares of SpaceX Class A stock, representing approximately 7.3% of the company. At a reported SpaceX valuation target of $1.75 trillion, Gracias' stake could be worth around $90 billion. If the company reaches a $2 trillion valuation, his holdings could exceed $140 billion, the report claims.
Close Ties with Musk
Gracias and Musk have maintained a close relationship for years, extending beyond business. Gracias has served on the boards of several Musk-linked companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, SolarCity, and The Boring Company. His investment firm has also backed multiple ventures associated with Musk.
Scrutiny Over Related-Party Deals
Fortune reported that subsidiaries connected to xAI entered into three equipment lease agreements with Valor involving AI infrastructure hardware used in data centers. The agreements reportedly create payment obligations approaching $20 billion over their duration, with SpaceX guaranteeing those commitments if the subsidiary cannot meet them. The filing indicates that Valor entities received roughly $885 million from the leases in 2025 and another $857 million during the first two months of 2026.
PricewaterhouseCoopers classified the arrangement as a “failed sale leaseback” rather than a standard lease, requiring the debt to remain on SpaceX's balance sheet. Around $9 billion is reportedly recorded as related-party debt tied to the agreements.
Criticism from Governance Experts
The arrangements have prompted criticism from corporate governance specialists. Nell Minow said, “That's to me, that's the worst. They wouldn't know an arm's-length transaction if they saw one.” Robert Willens questioned whether the disclosures clearly indicated that the terms were comparable to those available to unrelated parties. “If they don't say it explicitly, you have to be led to believe that maybe they're not being as careful as they are in the first agreement, and that they very well might be agreeing to terms that are less favourable than they would be with an unrelated party,” Willens noted. He added, “They know how to say it when they want to say it.” Willens suggested such payments could potentially act as a “disguised dividend” if insiders received favourable terms.
Potential Market Impact
The report also noted that recent Nasdaq rule changes may allow large IPOs to join benchmark indexes faster than before, potentially leading index-tracking funds and retirement portfolios to purchase SpaceX shares shortly after listing.
