Australia’s richest person buys $1 billion SpaceX stake  —  Who is the ‘pro-MAGA’ billionaire?

The sizeable move by the Australian iron ore industry’s pioneer was announced by her company, Hancock Prospecting. Although the firm’s official release refrained from disclosing the investment size, a Wall Street Journal report suggested the staggering stake was worth more than $1 billion in the historic $75 billion SpaceX IPO.

This means Rinehart’s mining firm was one of the many businesses that helped Elon Musk attain trillionaire status on June 12 when his company’s value eclipsed $2.1 trillion (and has since continued soaring close to a $3 trillion valuation). Despite her massive shareholding, Rinehart, like other investors, will not have direct voting influence over the company, according to the IPO’s terms.

While the Australian mining billionaire has now formally forged a business connection with Elon Musk, she has already interacted with him on multiple occasions. Back in 2022, she was even pictured at Donald Trump’s presidential campaign launch at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. She again joined the ‘Make America Great Again‘ leader and the Tesla CEO at Trump’s estate during the 2024 campaign.

Pro-Trump Australian billionaire praises Elon Musk after SpaceX IPO

In an official statement shared by her company, Rinehart didn’t just hail Musk’s SpaceX as “one of the defining companies of the 21st century”; she also credited his contributions to the country as the former head of the Donald Trump administration’s cost-cutting initiative, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

“I congratulate Elon Musk on this world leading IPO. Having built two of the world’s top 10 largest companies by market capitalisation is an extraordinary achievement. And contributed significantly to his country, via his leading role in DOGE,” said Rinehart, who has also previously expressed her support for Trump, describing him as an “outstanding leader” ahead of his 2025 inauguration.

“Elon has done what very few people in history have done – he has not just imagined the future, he has built companies capable of delivering it, and helped to keep American technology at the forefront.”

The Hancock Prospecting executive chairwoman continued to heap praise on the world’s first trillionaire and his space giant, hailing it as a “rare business led by a truly exceptional person.”

Speaking about her own stake in the company, the richest Australian said, “This is a significant investment for Hancock, and we are pleased to have received an allocation in what has been an extremely popular and oversubscribed IPO.”

As a renowned investor in critical minerals projects, Rinehart’s company now aims to join forces with SpaceX by becoming a key supplier of the Elon Musk-led firm’s mineral needs.

“In the future, we also see the possibility of mutually beneficial arrangements between SpaceX and Hancock Prospecting’s significant critical minerals investments, as demand grows for the materials and infrastructure needed to support advanced technology,” Hancock CEO Garry Korte chimed in.

What do we know about Gina Rinehart?

Most prominently, the executive chairwoman of Hancock Prospecting is known for her ultra-wealthy status as Australia’s richest person. The 72-year-old mining tycoon and heiress has a net worth of $25.2 billion and ranks 101st on the 2026 Forbes Billionaires list. Rinehart revamped the company her father, iron ore explorer Lang Hancock, founded as she stepped into the role of Hancock Prospecting’s top official after his death in 1992.

As she continued to draw her wealth from iron ore, Rinehart has made grand investments into rare earth minerals and the gas sector over the years. Two years ago, her company and Chile’s mineral giant SQM acquired lithium outfit Azure Minerals in a $1.1 billion deal.

Beyond her professional title as an iron ore pioneer, Rinehart has often been in the headlines for voicing her anti-immigration stance. Calling for a crackdown on immigration procedures, she recently demanded immigrants’ social media be screened, adding that school children are being taught to hate Australia.

“Our immigration procedures must only allow immigrants who have been thoroughly checked – including their phones, iPads, laptops, and social media,” she said during a public appearance in April. “We need to protect our country – and welcome only peace-loving, contributing immigrants to our shores. This should not be controversial. What Australians really want their families’ lives hurt by terrorists?”

Her views against mass immigration, among many others, align with US President Donald Trump’s policies. “Assuming the President wins both houses, I’d say his presidency will bring more prosperity to the USA than before, and he’ll be able to accomplish even more than last time. Including making Americans safer when he fixes the border nightmare,” she told Forbes Australia during Trump’s 2024 re-election bid, hailing his return to office as the “greatest comeback since 1892.”

As the richest person in Australia, Rinehart appeared to have exerted her influence on the media by bankrolling former Seven Media executive Bruce McWilliam’s acquisition of an almost 10% stake in Southern Cross Media, which owns the Seven Network, the Triple M and Hit radio brand, and West Australian Newspapers.

Although the unprecedented arrangement, worth about $26 million, doesn’t allow Rinehart a direct stake in Southern Cross, it has helped her climb back into the media game after more than a decade. At the time, she had bought a 10% stake in the Ten Network and 15% stake in Fairfax Media. While she has since exited both, she could take charge of the Southern Cross shares if Bruce McWilliam breaches their deal’s terms.

Their arranged deal accounts for the second-largest investment in the media giant after West Australian billionaire Kerry Stokes’ 20% share. Given her present unusual association with Southern Cross Media, the brand’s West Australian newspapers were quick to applaud her for the SpaceX IPO investment this week, triggering backlash over the “fawning coverage.”

Sophie McNeill, a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council, was one such official to criticise the development, saying “The Billionaires Own Our Media to Push their Agendas,” as she shared the clipping of a newspaper headline that read: “Gina’s $1.4B Musk Moonshot … From Iron Ore to Outer Space.”