My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be the equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life ~ Robert Smalls • 1839 - 1915
Elon just created 4,400 millionaires in a single day.
400 of them are now worth over $100 million.
These aren't VCs. They're SpaceX employees, and the list includes welders, technicians, and cafeteria staff, because for two decades the company paid every level of the workforce in stock instead of higher salaries.
Juan Hernandez immigrated from Mexico and took a $28 an hour contractor welding job in 2015. He says he didn't even know what SpaceX was. The company gave him a $10,000 equity grant and let him buy more shares through payroll deductions. That stake is now worth $880,000.
Trevor Hise's parents wanted him to take a stable job at General Electric. He picked SpaceX instead, stayed 12 years, and accumulated over 100,000 shares. At the $135 listing price that's $13.5 million. He's 37 and semiretired. His words: "The magnitude of this has been ridiculous."
The most telling detail came before the listing. Over 100 employees quietly banded together and negotiated a group wealth management deal covering up to $5 billion, because none of them had ever needed a wealth manager before.
Software IPOs have minted millionaires for 30 years. This is the first one where the money went to the factory floor.
“The South Africans kicked me out into the rain, and it was at that moment that I went to the embassy and told them that I wanted to go back to Ghana.”
— A young Ghanaian footballer and victim of xenophobia shares his ordeal in South Africa
The NITA Bill is an overreach.
Regulating Ghana’s digital economy is important, but this bill gives one authority too much control over licensing, certification, approvals, inspections, fees, and even business changes.
We need smart regulation, not a chokehold on innovation.
#NITA