James Murdoch, the estranged son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, appears poised to walk away with a fortune from an early investment in Elon Musk's SpaceX that could dwarf what he ever earned from his family's media empire, according to new calculations shared with Fortune.

James, 53, invested an estimated $120 million in SpaceX before the rocket and satellite company went public earlier this year in the largest initial public offering in history. That stake could now be worth as much as $7.5 billion, according to calculations by Franco Granda, senior research analyst for private company coverage at Pitchbook. The valuation had not previously been publicly disclosed.

The financial details emerged from public records tied to a 2023 court case brought by a Tesla shareholder challenging Musk's disputed $56 billion compensation package. That litigation revealed that James Murdoch had purchased three separate tranches of SpaceX stock. Two of those tranches, worth $50 million each, were acquired in 2019 and 2020 through a private investment vehicle believed to be Lupa Systems, the firm Murdoch founded in 2019 where he serves as the primary beneficiary alongside staff and partners. He separately made a personal investment of $20 million in 2019. Combined, those holdings are now estimated to be worth between $6.573 billion and $7.44 billion, according to Pitchbook's analysis.

While SpaceX's public offering documents do not mention James Murdoch by name, the filing details stock awards granted to Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen with an expiration date of 2030, valuing the underlying stock at $4.40 per share, figures that offer clues to the value shareholders held........

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