Topline
A Canada-based teachers’ pension fund could earn a massive return of up to $11 billion on a private investment of about $220 million it made in billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX seven years ago.
SpaceX is planning to go public this week. (Photo by Michael Yanow/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Key Facts
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan invested about $220 million in U.S. dollars in SpaceX in 2019, when the company was valued somewhere between $33 billion and $36 billion, The Globe and Mail reported.
SpaceX is hoping for a $1.75 trillion initial public offering valuation with shares priced at $135 each, which would make the Ontario Teachers’ investment worth $11.6 billion, the Globe and Mail reported, citing unnamed sources.
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is Canada’s largest single-profession pension plan with $279.4 billion in net assets as of the end of 2025, covering 346,000 working and retired teachers.
It’s unclear, though, what Ontario Teachers’ will do with its stake in SpaceX, as its chief investment officer Gillian Brown said in March the IPO is not necessarily “a target exit point,” adding the fund may wait to see whether SpaceX’s acquisition of Musk’s xAI will position the company for “another potential leg of venture-like growth.”
In March, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan reported a 6.7% return on investments in 2025 and a 30% surge in its venture growth portfolio, largely thanks to its investment in SpaceX, even as it posted its first private equity loss since 2009.
Forbes has reached out to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan for comment.
surprising fact
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has previously lost out on investments, notably a major investment it made into the ill-fated FTX cryptocurrency exchange in 2022. The fund made an investment of $95 million into FTX, and after the company filed for bankruptcy, Ontario Teachers’ said it would write its investment down to zero but claimed the loss would have “limited impact on the Plan.”
what to watch for
SpaceX is planning to debut on Nasdaq on Friday. Some analysts have suggested SpaceX is overvalued, including those at Morningstar, who believe SpaceX is worth less than half of its IPO target.
forbes valuation
Musk’s net worth is $796.3 billion as of Monday morning, according to Forbes estimates, making him the wealthiest person in the world by a margin of about half a trillion dollars. Musk owns about 41% of SpaceX and 12% of Tesla. A SpaceX IPO at a valuation of $1.75 trillion could make Musk the world’s first trillionaire, Forbes previously reported.
key background
In 2019, long before SpaceX acquired xAI and when the company was just starting to launch its Starlink satellites, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan announced a major investment into Musk’s space company. The investment was the first made by the pension fund’s Teachers’ Innovation Platform, now called the Teachers’ Venture Growth, which the pension fund says invests in late-stage technology companies. At the time of the initial investment, the teachers’ fund praised SpaceX as the “world’s leading private space launch provider,” adding it looked forward to working with the company as it rolled out its Starlink satellite technology. Ontario Teachers’ has since made follow-up investments into SpaceX, though the Globe and Mail reported it is unclear how many investments it has made and what the value of its stake is now.
further reading
SpaceX’s Reported IPO Price Would Make Elon Musk The World’s First Trillionaire (Forbes)