When Popularity Bets on the Stock Exchange
A round of applause erupted as Indonesian celebrity Nagita Slavina took the stage in the main hall of the Indonesia Stock Exchange. She appeared not as a celebrity, but as the President Director of PT RANS Entertainment Indonesia Tbk. Her presence on Friday (10/7/2026) marked the company she founded with her husband, Raffi Ahmad, listing on the stock exchange through an initial public offering (IPO). This move is not just sensational news from the celebrity world, but a significant phenomenon in modern business.
RANS began its journey in 2016 from a home garage, with only recordings of the family’s daily life as capital. However, through consistent creativity, they managed to turn loyal viewers into business capital known as intellectual property (IP). Nagita stated that since the beginning, she believed the entertainment industry, especially in the digital world, has become a new economic infrastructure. This industry has evolved into an experience economy, a business of experiences that goes beyond the purchase of physical products.
“They buy stories. They buy memories they want to take home and retell. They come to concerts, attend festivals, buy merchandise, and also the characters they like,” Nagita said in her speech at the IPO event. Therefore, they were confident in seeking new funding sources for the industry they are developing. RANS successfully raised fresh funds of Rp 429.25 billion from the release of 2.5 billion shares, equivalent to 20 percent of the company’s shares, at a price of Rp 170 per share.
A third of the funds will be used to finance the entertainment and concert business, while a fifth each will go to the beauty business line under PT Rans Kosmetika Indonesia and the capital for building a children’s play area inspired by the couple’s second child, “Cipungland”. Nagita expressed confidence that these various creative ventures deserve to stand alongside other strategic economic sectors in Indonesia. “Today is the day when Indonesia shows that creativity can stand shoulder to shoulder with other strategic economic sectors. Creativity is capital, creativity is an asset, and creativity can become a public company trusted by the Indonesian people,” she said.
However, behind the success of this corporate action, the sustainability of RANS’s business, which is carried by the names of Raffi and Nagita, is being questioned. This is because their business relies on the good name and loyal fans of the couple as business capital. This is a risk they are very aware of. In their share prospectus, it was stated that the company’s risk is dependence on key talents, namely Raffi Ahmad and Nagita Slavina and their family. This dependence could potentially have a negative impact on the company’s business and financial performance if there is a decline in involvement or a reputational issue.
Furthermore, the integrity of RANS’s existence is also being questioned. The company is considered by some members of the public to be involved in money laundering because Raffi, who currently serves as the Presidential Special Envoy for Youth Development and Arts Workers, is close to oligarchs. The company’s fundamentals are also in doubt. In recent years, RANS’s revenue has continued to decline. RANS’s revenue in 2025 was Rp 353.38 billion, compared to Rp 410.50 billion in 2024 and Rp 437.81 billion in 2023. Net profit also shrank last year to Rp 56.7 billion from Rp 97.1 billion in 2024 and Rp 90.2 billion in 2023.
Nagita acknowledged that the risk of her family’s branding in the creative business being a burden on the company has been addressed by introducing IP-based businesses and diversifying their ventures. Gradually, this exposure has been reduced from 24 percent in 2023 to 14 percent in 2025.
If Indonesia has RANS, on a global level there is the far more extreme story of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. In mid-June 2026, SpaceX conducted the largest IPO in history on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the United States. Priced at 135 US dollars per share, SpaceX managed to raise funds reaching 75 billion US dollars. Within days, investor enthusiasm pushed the company’s valuation to approximately 2.53 trillion US dollars, temporarily making it a rival to Amazon’s stock. The company, carried by the name of the world’s richest man since 2025, is seen as offering brand strength over business fundamentals. Although SpaceX is valued at 1.77 trillion US dollars, under standard accounting principles (GAAP), the rocket company has never recorded a net profit. According to a Brand Finance 2026 report, SpaceX is viewed as a disruptive brand that has successfully shaken up the aerospace industry, long dominated by established players like Boeing and Airbus. The report placed SpaceX at 207th in the aerospace and defence sector, alongside Airbus and Rolls-Royce. Airbus and Rolls-Royce are brands built on decades of heritage, engineering reliability, and institutional trust. They differ from SpaceX, whose business runs on new trends, disrupting an established industry through bold innovation and scalability. In the eyes of global investors, SpaceX’s reputation as a symbol of future innovation is a guarantee that the company will continue to thrive.