With the aerospace company SpaceX founded by Elon Musk approaching an initial public offering (IPO), projections indicate that more than 4,400 current and former employees will join the ranks of millionaires. The founder, Musk, is likely to become the first ‘trillionaire’ in the world.

The New York Times (NYT) reported this on the 10th (local time), citing the San Francisco-based investment platform Hill.com, adding that 400 of them will come to hold assets worth more than $100 million (about 150 billion KRW).

SpaceX currently has about 22,000 employees. Former employees also number in the hundreds.

Musk appears poised to become the first trillionaire in the world. SpaceX has set an IPO offering price of $135 per share; based on that, the value of the SpaceX stake held by Musk is estimated at $866.5 billion. The NYT explained, “In addition to Musk, his friends, Silicon Valley venture capital, private equity, and other investors are also expected to reap multibillion-dollar gains.”

Andrew Benson, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Hill.com, said, “In most IPOs, only the founders become billionaires,” adding, “It is highly unusual for as many as 400 people to end up with assets of $100 million or more.”

Among the ‘prospective millionaires’ the NYT met is SpaceX engineer Gavin Petit (42). Joining in 2012, he received company bonuses in stock instead of cash. He later sold some of his unlisted shares to outside investors, but still holds more than 50,000 shares. He likened the upcoming listing to “the IPO of Coca-Cola or Google”.

However, the NYT reported that not all employees held on to their shares. Some are said to have swapped them for restaurant gift certificates, having judged the likelihood of a SpaceX listing to be low.