Elon Musk said he plans to give one of his SpaceX shares to every American child next year, a pledge posted on X that, based on current valuations, would amount to a giveaway worth more than $10 billion.
Musk’s post read, in full, “Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many.” Based on SpaceX’s October 16 closing valuation of $146.03 per share and roughly 73 million minors living in the United States, the pledge represents more than $10 billion in stock.
Musk’s announcement did not specify how the distribution would actually work, including how shares would be delivered to tens of millions of children, whether every American minor would be eligible, or what logistical and regulatory steps such a mass transfer of private company stock would require.
The pledge came shortly after rival AI company Anthropic said it would set aside a portion of its own shares for public benefit, suggesting Musk's announcement may be at least partly a competitive response within an industry increasingly framing large-scale stock giveaways as a form of public goodwill.
With SpaceX remaining a private company, questions about valuation, liquidity and the mechanics of distributing shares to children who cannot legally hold or trade stock on their own are likely to shape how, or whether, the pledge is ultimately carried out as described.
