Musk Plans SpaceX Share Giveaway Through Trump Accounts

Elon Musk plans to distribute one SpaceX share to every child in the United States next year, with President Donald Trump confirming on October 19 that the proposed giveaway would go through Trump Accounts, a tax-advantaged savings program for children. The plan could involve shares worth billions of dollars, although Musk has not explained how the distribution would work. According to CNBC, 72 million SpaceX shares would have been worth approximately $10.5 billion based on the stock's value on Friday.

The White House said in October that more than 70 million Trump Accounts had been created after approximately 60 million children were automatically enrolled. Musk announced the proposed distribution in a post on X on Monday, October 19. He indicated that the initiative could extend beyond the initial giveaway, but provided no additional details about eligibility, distribution procedures, or the number of shares that would ultimately be allocated.

In his announcement, Musk wrote, "Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many," Elon Musk said in a Monday post on X.

The proposal followed an exchange between Musk and Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company that had outlined plans to dedicate a portion of its equity to public-benefit initiatives. Anthropic announced that its newly established Anthropic Public Benefit Fund would initially receive 5% of the company's shares. Anthropic also outlined a mechanism for increasing the fund's allocation as the company's valuation grows.

Its announcement stated, "We’re committing a portion of Anthropic’s shares to the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, a new wholly owned entity dedicated entirely to the public benefit. It will start off with 5% of our shares. For every 50% increase in the company’s value over a set baseline, we can contribute up to an extra 2%, subject to our board’s discretion.

In total, this means that roughly 20% of Anthropic’s shares are committed to the public good," Anthropic noted in a Sunday post on X.

The company also described existing equity donations by its founders and employees as part of its broader public-benefit commitments. Anthropic added, "Our co-founders have already pledged to donate 80% of their equity, and around half our employees are donating a portion of their equity as part of a donation matching program we’ve run since our founding," the company added. Responding to Anthropic's announcement on Sunday, Musk advocated distributing company shares directly to individuals rather than allocating them through a dedicated fund. He wrote, "I recommend giving the shares directly to the public," Elon Musk wrote in response to Anthropic's announcement.

Musk subsequently indicated that he intended to apply that approach to his own holdings. In another post, he stated, "This is what I will be doing," Elon Musk added. The proposed SpaceX distribution has also drawn attention to Trump Accounts, which the administration has promoted as a way to establish tax-advantaged financial accounts for children.

President Donald Trump appeared to confirm the connection between Musk's pledge and the accounts in a post on Truth Social. Other prominent donors have also pledged contributions to the program, including Michael and Susan Dell, Ray and Barbara Dalio, investor Brad Gerstner, and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. The White House reported that automatic enrollment had reached approximately 60 million children in October, while the total number of accounts created exceeded 70 million.