The head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Kelly Loeffler, significantly grew her financial stake in Elon Musk’s SpaceX following her nomination to lead the agency, reaping millions of dollars when the company completed the largest initial public offering in U.S. history, according to a Reuters examination of federal financial disclosure records.
Before taking office, Loeffler reported an investment of between $1 million and $5 million — dated as of January 3, 2025 — in xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence and social media company, which has since merged with SpaceX. That information came from a financial disclosure she was required to file prior to becoming SBA administrator.
A second financial disclosure, which Loeffler signed on May 14, 2026, and which Reuters obtained from the SBA on June 12, revealed she made an additional investment of between $1 million and $5 million in SpaceX and xAI during 2025. That second investment had not been previously reported publicly.
Two independent government ethics attorneys reviewed the disclosures and agreed with Reuters’ findings. Cabinet officials are required to report asset values in ranges and are not required to specify the exact dates of investments made before taking office.
SpaceX holds contracts with the U.S. military. Under federal law, cabinet members are barred from participating in government decisions involving companies in which they hold a financial interest. Public records do not show any financial connection between the SBA and either xAI or SpaceX, and xAI did not appear on the SBA’s publicly available list of AI tools used by agency employees in 2025.
Loeffler and her staff did not respond to repeated requests from Reuters seeking comment on her SpaceX holdings.
The payoff from those investments proved substantial. SpaceX priced its IPO on June 12 at a valuation of $1.77 trillion — the largest in U.S. history. According to Franco Granda, an analyst at data provider PitchBook, Loeffler’s first xAI investment could have been worth anywhere between $7 million and $2.6 billion on the day of the offering, depending on the exact amount invested and the timing. Her second investment would have been worth between $2.2 million and $25.4 million that same day.
Granda noted that earlier investments carried higher potential returns. xAI’s valuation climbed more than 7,000% between its first funding round and January 5, 2025, while SpaceX’s overall valuation more than doubled throughout 2025.
Loeffler’s initial stake in xAI was acquired through a private placement — an investment type typically available only to high-net-worth individuals and select institutions.
Loeffler is not the only Trump administration official with ties to Musk’s companies. At least 10 administration officials disclosed investments in SpaceX or xAI on their 2025 financial forms. None of those officials works at the Defense Department.
Musk, a billionaire and former adviser to President Trump, is the founder and chief executive of SpaceX.
Loeffler has an extensive background in finance. She founded and served as chief executive of Bakkt, a bitcoin trading platform, and spent 16 years at Intercontinental Exchange, the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is married to Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher and previously served a brief term representing Georgia in the U.S. Senate.
The SBA is a federal agency that assists entrepreneurs in starting and growing small businesses, connects business owners with lenders and funding sources, and helps communities recover from natural disasters. The Senate confirmed Loeffler as SBA administrator on February 19, 2025.
