Musk Pledges a SpaceX Share for Every American Child, Tying the Gift to Trump's New Investment Accounts

Elon Musk announced on X that he plans to give one share of SpaceX stock to every child in America next year, writing that "this will be the first of many." With roughly 72 million children in the United States, the shares would be worth a combined $10.5 billion at current values. Musk said the distribution would run through Trump Accounts, the federally funded $1,000 investment accounts the government is setting up for every child born between 2025 and 2028.

Musk's pledge follows one made in July by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, who said she and her husband would participate in the Invest America program by gifting a share of SpaceX stock to a Trump Account for more than two million children nationwide.

The announcements landed the same week Anthropic said it would commit 5% of its company shares to a newly created public benefit fund intended to facilitate donations for public good causes. Musk responded publicly, arguing that companies should give shares directly to the public rather than routing them through an intermediary fund.

The donations are being made possible by a Treasury rule change at the end of September that allows donors to gift privately held stock into accounts like these under a mandatory multi year holding period. Donors can deduct the stock's full market value without paying capital gains tax on the transfer, while recipients owe income tax only once they eventually sell the shares.