Triller plans $411 million SpaceX investment while former staffers report unpaid wages

Triller announced plans to acquire a stake in SpaceX valued at about $411 million. The publicly traded company said the position would be held as a strategic treasury asset. Eight former Triller employees across marketing, events, and sales divisions said they have not received paychecks in the past year.

They also said the company shut down their work emails and suspended their health insurance without issuing termination notices. One employee who worked on events said the experience was the most bizarre he had encountered. Another employee who worked in communications said the company had left her.

Triller is listed on the Nasdaq. Its market capitalization reached about $60 million at Thursday's close, up from $5 million at the start of 2026.

Triller launched in 2015 as a music-focused video app.

The company raised more than $400 million and secured investments from artists including Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and The Weeknd. After TikTok was banned in India in 2020, Triller positioned itself as an alternative and explored a $20 billion bid to acquire TikTok assets. When that opportunity did not develop, the company pursued other strategies.

Employee actions Some former employees have filed wage claims with the California Labor Board. Six staffers filed a lawsuit in Santa Barbara Superior Court in October seeking about $280,000 in unpaid wages. Triller has not responded to the suit. Kyle Jensen, director of the entrepreneurship program at the Yale School of Management, said it is unusual for a startup to stop paying employees without communication.