NEWS: He came from Mexico and welded rockets for SpaceX at $28 an hour. His stock is now worth almost $1 million.
Juan Hernandez joined SpaceX as a contract welder in 2015, the Wall Street Journal reports. When he went full time, the company gave him $10,000 in stock that vested over five years. He bought more from every paycheck.
In 2020 he started selling small pieces of the stake, back when SpaceX was worth $36 billion. That money bought properties around Texas, where he and his wife now run a small real estate business.
The shares he kept are worth around $880,000 at the IPO price.
"It's put me in a comfortable position for life."
These days he welds rockets for Blue Origin. The SpaceX stock comes with him.