Invercargill man and Rocket Lab founder Sir Peter Beck, was recently named by Forbes as the world’s newest space billionaire.
According to the publication, his estimated net worth is $US1billion ($NZ1.7b).
The company, which develops and launches rockets, satellites and other space craft, has had its stocks soar more than 300% over the past year which meant Sir Peter’s 10% share, is worth nearly $US970million.
He was also estimated to have made $US65m of personal income from selling company shares.
Sir Peter went from tinkering with a farm bike at a Southland secondary school to rocketing on to the United States’ Nasdaq stock exchange
He grew up in Invercargill, born into a family who loved machines. His father, Russell Beck, who died in 2018, was the former director for the Southland Museum & Art Gallery and his mother, Ann, was a teacher.
He attended Invercargill’s James Hargest College before leaving at age 17 to take up a toolmaking apprenticeship at Fisher & Paykel in Mosgiel in 1995.
After six years, Sir Peter got a job at Industrial Research in Auckland, now Callaghan Innovation, where he continued to work on his passion.
It was there he met Sir Stephen Tindall, one of his first investors, which allowed him to found Rocket Lab in 2006.
However, he has never forgotten his roots.
In 2019, he visited his old school and said it provided him with the resources to fuel his passion for engineering.
"It’s funny standing here, because I remembered this floor when I walked in. I probably wasn’t a very academic child, but I did count every single one of these square pieces of wood in the floor," he said at the time.
In this year’s King’s Birthday Honours, Sir Peter was named a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the aerospace industry, business and education.
