The wealthiest person in the world has announced plans to give every child in America a share of his rocket company, although he hasn’t specified exactly how this will happen.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, stated in a Monday post on X that he intends to provide one share of the company to every child in the U.S. next year. This announcement followed his suggestion to rival AI company Anthropic that they should also distribute shares “directly to the public” in a Sunday X post.
“Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many,” Musk posted early on Monday.
The potential value of this gift is around $10.5 billion, assuming he distributes shares to all 72 million U.S. children at a current estimated price of about $146.03 each, as reported by CNBC. SpaceX’s market cap is approximately $2 trillion.
Additionally, on July 6, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell promised to give a share of the company to each of the 2 million Trump Accounts, CNBC noted.
“Incredible Elon! This will be the largest philanthropic gift in history!” exclaimed Brad Gerstner, CEO of Altimeter Capital and founder of Invest America, in response to Musk’s announcement. He suggested that all citizens under 18, along with every future child born, would now possess a free, lifetime investment account, making them stakeholders in America’s growth and major corporations.
Neither SpaceX nor the Treasury Department provided immediate comments to the Daily Caller News Foundation regarding this announcement.
Musk did not clarify if he would utilize Trump Accounts for this distribution. According to temporary Treasury Department and IRS regulations initiated on September 30, these accounts can accept individual stock donations.
Regulators have sounded alarms that account holders may face greater risks, including increased portfolio concentration. Shares that are donated generally must be held for at least five years.
By directly donating shares, wealthy donors may also sidestep capital gains taxes, as CNBC highlighted.
Separately, Musk expressed concerns over advanced AI potentially having the ability to influence people significantly, even himself. “So many people are going to get one-shotted by super persuasive super intelligences and I might be one of them,” he expressed on X earlier on Monday.
The concept of Trump Accounts, presented by Gerstner’s Invest America to Republican Senator Ted Cruz in 2024, aimed to create investment accounts for children. These accounts are government-managed and intended for every child under 18 with a Social Security number.
