‘First of many’: Elon Musk promises SpaceX shares to every US child. What will the giveaway cost?

Elon Musk has proposed giving every child in the United States a share of SpaceX next year, potentially extending stock ownership to tens of millions of young Americans in what could become one of the largest individual share-gifting initiatives.

In a post on X (formally twitter), the billionaire entrepreneur wrote, “Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many.”

Musk did not provide further details on the proposed giveaway, including eligibility criteria, the distribution mechanism or whether the shares would be transferred directly to children or placed in investment accounts managed on their behalf.

How much could Musk's SpaceX share giveaway be worth? 

The potential scale of the initiative is substantial. The United States has approximately 72 million to 73 million children under the age of 18.

If the programme covers every child in that age group, the distribution could involve roughly 72 million shares.

Based on a reported SpaceX share price of around $146, the proposed giveaway could have an indicative value of approximately $10.5 billion. The final figure would depend on the number of eligible children and the share price when the distribution takes place.

The estimate is illustrative. Musk has not confirmed the number of beneficiaries or disclosed the arrangements for transferring the shares.

Could the giveaway be linked to Trump Accounts? 

One possibility attracting attention is a potential connection with the Trump Accounts initiative, a US programme designed to help build long-term investment savings for eligible children.

The programme provides a $1,000 federal seed contribution for eligible children born between 2025 and 2028, subject to its rules.

However, Musk has not said whether his proposed giveaway would operate through these accounts or use a separate mechanism.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell and her husband had previously pledged company shares for more than two million American children, focusing on young people from lower-income households. Musk's proposed initiative would potentially extend the concept to a far larger population.

Anthropic commits 5% of its shares

Musk's announcement comes hours after Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind Claude, is proposing to set aside a portion of its ownership for public benefit, creating a mechanism through which its growing corporate value could help fund initiatives addressing the social and economic consequences of AI.

In an announcement on October 18, Anthropic said it would commit 5% of its shares to a new Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, subject to stockholder approval. The company has also proposed a structure under which the fund could receive an additional 2% of its shares for every 50% increase in Anthropic's value above a yet-to-be-specified baseline, at the board's discretion.