Going Public

Three of the world’s largest companies are going public. SpaceX, the rocket company owned by Elon Musk, became the first of the three to complete the process last week. In doing so, SpaceX broke the record for the largest initial public offering in history, and Musk became the world’s first trillionaire (SpaceX’s market cap is still settling out but currently stands just shy of $2.7 trillion).

Meanwhile, two of the largest Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies, Anthropic and OpenAI, filed their respective Form S-1s, the first formal step to becoming a publicly traded company.

Analysis and eternal perspective: It is admittedly hard to make sense of these astronomical numbers. Just for illustration purposes, one million dollars is $1,000 a thousand times over, one billion dollars is one million dollars a thousand times over, and one trillion dollars is a billion dollars a thousand times over!

Are you confused yet? Simply put, it’s a LOT, and that is understating it!

But here’s the reality: All of it is so very fleeting. Even if the wealth sustains for a time (far from guaranteed), all of it will be in different hands a few short decades from now, and all of it will pass away in eternity.

It is a beautiful thing to build and create! It is reflective of the character of our Creator God, and building value into our physical world is in fact one of our biblical mandates (Jer. 29:4-7). So build and create with all of the skill and excellence God has bestowed upon you (Ecc. 9:10)!

But do so wary of the futile pull and temptation of earthly treasure. Do not let your heart be set on things of this Earth, but instead set your eyes and your heart on heaven, for treasure laid up in eternity will never fade away (Matt. 6:19-21)!