Elon Musk pledges one SpaceX share to every child in America, a giveaway worth approximately $10.5 billion

Elon Musk pledged one SpaceX share to every child in America, a giveaway worth approximately $10.5 billion that would reach roughly 72 million children. “Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many,” Musk wrote on X. He provided no details on how it would work.

The pledge came after Anthropic announced on Sunday that it would commit 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund. Musk replied to Anthropic’s post on X, recommending the company give shares “directly to the public.” In a follow-up post, Musk wrote, “This is what I will be doing.” TechCrunch reported that the giveaway is planned for 2027, though Musk’s own statement referred only to “next year.”

SpaceX’s closing stock price was $146.03 as of Friday. Musk owns approximately 6.4 billion SpaceX shares including unvested awards and options, representing a 48.4% beneficial stake in the company. The giveaway represents roughly 1% of Musk’s net worth, which Bloomberg estimates at $908 billion; TechCrunch reported approximately $1 trillion. SpaceX went public in June at $150 per share, peaked at $225.64 in the week after the IPO, and has since declined below $150.

Anthropic’s parallel pledge

Anthropic committed 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund, which will be a wholly owned limited liability company. The fund is intended for use after the company’s upcoming IPO. It may support large donations to traditional nonprofits, direct distributions to specific populations, or approaches to study and address AI’s disruption of jobs. Anthropic’s board may add an additional 2% of shares for every 50% increase in company value above a baseline.

Trump Accounts and the corporate giveaway trend

President Donald Trump has set up Treasury bank accounts for children, called Trump Accounts, that can accept stock donations. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell announced she would give shares of her SpaceX stock to two million Trump Accounts. Dell’s founder poured $6.25 billion into Trump Accounts, and Micron announced a $250 million investment. Whether Musk’s giveaway would use Trump Accounts is unknown.

Musk’s giving record

Musk’s philanthropic giving to date has been almost exclusively done through the Musk Foundation, the fifth-largest private charitable foundation in the United States. A review by The Economist showed that nearly 60% of Musk Foundation money went to The Foundation, a charity run by Musk’s money manager, Jared Birchall. Musk’s political spending has also drawn attention. He donated $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund PAC in September through an affiliated Texas PAC, in two contributions of $75 million and $83 million. Musk has spent more than $276 million in donations to Republican groups since July. He spent around $300 million to help elect Trump.

No information is available on logistics, eligibility, custodial arrangements for minors, tax implications, board or shareholder approval, SEC compliance, or whether the pledge is legally binding.