Elon Musk Promises SpaceX Share to Every US Child

“Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many,” the tech billionaire wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Musk’s announcement came shortly after Anthropic, the company behind Claude, revealed plans to commit a portion of its shares to a newly established Anthropic Public Benefit Fund. The fund is a wholly owned entity focused on public benefit initiatives. Anthropic, led by Dario Amodei, said it would contribute up to an additional 2 per cent of its shares for every 50% increase in the company’s value over an established baseline.

What could Musk’s SpaceX share giveaway be worth?

Musk’s proposed giveaway could represent a significant transfer of wealth. He has an estimated net worth of $904 billion and, according to an SEC filing from August, owns around 4.8 billion SpaceX shares. Including unvested awards and stock options, his holdings rise to approximately 6.4 billion shares.

The US has roughly 72 million children under the age of 18. If each child were to receive one SpaceX share, and the stock were valued at $146.03 based on SpaceX’s October 19 closing price, the total value of the proposed giveaway would be around $10.5 billion.

However, the actual value of the distribution could change depending on SpaceX’s share price and the structure of the proposed giveaway when it takes place.

Musk responds to Anthropic’s public benefit plan

Musk’s announcement followed his reaction to Anthropic’s decision to commit 5 per cent of its shares to its public benefit fund.Responding to the company’s announcement on X, Musk wrote: “I recommend giving the shares directly to the public.”

“This is what I will be doing,” he said in another post.

The billionaire has previously spoken about how artificial intelligence could transform employment and wealth distribution. Musk has predicted that AI and automation could usher in an era of abundance, with machines eventually handling much of the work currently performed by humans.

He has also advocated for universal basic income and broader access to wealth created by technology.

“My prediction is that there will be effectively universal high income,” Musk said in an interview last month with state-owned China Media Group. “In fact, it’s not clear to me that money will even matter in the future.”

Musk also wrote on X in April this year: “Universal HIGH INCOME via checks issued by the Federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI.”

Whether Musk’s SpaceX giveaway proceeds as announced, and how the shares would actually be distributed, remains to be seen.