Elon Musk Pledges SpaceX Shares to Every American Child

Musk announced the initiative on X this past Sunday, framing it as the first of many such distributions. While the valuation is based on a recent closing price of approximately $146 per share, the billionaire offered no details on the mechanics of the transfer, nor did he define the specific eligibility criteria for recipients. The announcement arrived as a direct rebuttal to Anthropic, which recently committed 5% of its shares—valued at $48 billion—to a Public Benefit Fund intended to address the societal impact of artificial intelligence.

This is not the first instance of SpaceX-related stock reaching minors. In July, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell and her husband gifted individual shares to over 2 million children through accounts associated with Donald Trump. That earlier donation was valued by the former president at $325 million. Whether Musk intends to replicate that specific structure remains unclear, leaving analysts to question if the pledge is a serious financial strategy or a competitive jab at rival tech firms.