Elon Musk announced he will give one of his SpaceX shares to every child in the United States next year. The billionaire posted the pledge on X on October 19, calling it the first of many such moves.
According to the Epoch Times and Zero Hedge, roughly 73 million children under 18 lived in the US as of July 2025. At about $147 per share, the total value reaches nearly $11 billion.
That sum equals roughly 1.5 percent of the approximately 4.8 billion SpaceX shares Musk owns. Counting options and unvested awards, his holdings rise to about 6.4 billion shares.
SpaceX went public in June and carries a valuation near $2 trillion. Musk offered no details on how the shares would be distributed or whether every child would qualify.
The Treasury recently auto-enrolled tens of millions of children in Trump Accounts and now permits stock donations into them. Musk did not confirm he would route the shares through that program.
The pledge arrived one day after Anthropic committed 5 percent of its shares, subject to stockholder approval, to a new public benefit fund. The AI firm said an extra 2 percent could follow for each 50 percent rise in value above a baseline.
Including co-founder pledges and employee matches, Anthropic claimed roughly 20 percent of its shares are now dedicated to the public good. The fund could support nonprofits or make direct distributions to specific groups, with AI’s job impacts cited as one possible use.
Musk replied on X that shares should go directly to the public, then later confirmed he would take that approach himself. SpaceX absorbed his xAI startup in February and now competes directly with Anthropic, which confidentially filed for an IPO in June.
In July, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and her husband each pledged one share for more than 2 million children through Trump Accounts. The gifts targeted lower-income kids aged 11 to 17 and totaled at least $320 million at the announcement price.
President Trump told CNBC on July 3 that he expected Musk to contribute SpaceX stock to the accounts as well. Neither Musk nor the company had confirmed any such plan at that time.
SpaceX reported $7.8 billion in revenue for its first quarter as a public company on August 4. Capital spending reached $18.4 billion, with about $16 billion directed to AI computing, well above analyst forecasts of $13.2 billion.
The stock dropped more than 5 percent after the report. Second-quarter results are due after the close on October 20, with revenue projected between $12.74 billion and $12.89 billion.
Analysts expect earnings per share of $0.14 to $0.23, driven mainly by AI and Starlink. SpaceX is also seeking to raise $40 billion to buy advanced Nvidia AI chips as it pushes deeper into computing.
Credit markets have shown rising concern over SpaceX’s AI-related debt. The massive share pledge adds a new layer of scrutiny to Musk’s strategy for both the company and his personal holdings.
