Elon Musk Reportedly Plans to Give $10.5B in SpaceX Shares to Every Single US Child

Elon Musk has said he plans to give one SpaceX share to every child in the United States next year, a proposal that would put stock worth about $10.5 billion (€9.1 billion and £7.9 billion) into the hands of roughly 72 million under-18s.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive made the pledge on X on Monday, responding to Anthropic's announcement of a new Public Benefit Fund.

'Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America,' Musk wrote, according to his post on X. The claim has not yet been accompanied by details on how the shares would be transferred, held, taxed or valued for children too young to own securities directly.

Why Musk Made the SpaceX Shares Promise

Anthropic said on Sunday that it intends to commit 5% of its shares to a new Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, subject to stockholder approval. The company said the fund could support large donations to nonprofits or direct distributions to particular groups, with artificial intelligence's impact on jobs identified as one possible focus.

Anthropic also said its board could add a further 2% of shares for every 50% increase in the company's value above an undisclosed baseline. The fund will be structured as a wholly owned limited liability company rather than a conventional charity, giving it flexibility over how it deploys the equity.

Musk's response was blunt. 'I recommend giving the shares directly to the public,' he wrote on X, before adding that this was what he intended to do.

The idea lands at a moment when AI companies are under growing pressure to explain who benefits from the wealth their technology may create. Anthropic framed its fund as a way to address that question. Musk, never one to let a rival's announcement pass without a countermove, proposed something more direct: hand the equity to children.

What Musk's SpaceX Shares Pledge Could Mean

The arithmetic is eye-catching. There were about 72 million children under 18 in the United States as of 1 July 2025, according to official census data cited in reporting on Musk's post. At SpaceX's closing share price of $146.03 (€126 and £110) on Friday, one share for each child would represent roughly $10.5 billion (€9.1 billion and £7.9 billion) in stock.

That is not small change, even by the standards of the world's richest people. It is also not quite the same as handing every child $146 in cash. The value would depend entirely on SpaceX's future performance, and private-company shares are notoriously harder to sell than listed stock.

Musk described the plan as the first of many efforts, amid wider discussion about how gains from technology can reach ordinary people. He suggested the giveaway was intended to encourage young people's interest in space and investing.

There is a political undertone here, too. Anthropic's fund is a structured corporate commitment, subject to shareholder approval and future governance arrangements. Musk's proposal is a personal pledge made on social media, with no announced mechanism, timetable beyond 'next year', or legal framework. Those gaps matter.

The Wider Fight Over AI Wealth

Anthropic has outlined plans for a new fund that could make large donations to traditional nonprofits or distribute money directly to specific populations, with a particular focus on labour-market disruption linked to artificial intelligence.

The maker of the Claude AI system said it has already committed $200 million (€173 million, £150 million) to research and initiatives addressing AI's impact on workers. The company said the pace of AI advancement may outstrip existing mitigation efforts.

Including earlier pledges by Anthropic's founders and an employee donation-matching programme, the company said about 20% of its shares are earmarked for public-benefit purposes, not counting any additional allocations that could be triggered if the firm hits certain valuation milestones. The fund still requires shareholder approval.

In a separate move, Elon Musk has proposed giving every child in the United States a share of SpaceX, shifting the debate from philanthropic structures toward individual asset ownership. It remains unclear whether a single SpaceX share would provide meaningful financial exposure or function primarily as a complex asset for parents to administer.

Musk has not publicly detailed how such a programme would address custody arrangements for minors, securities law requirements or tax treatment.

Neither initiative has been fully implemented. Anthropic's proposal awaits formal sign-off, and Musk's suggested SpaceX distribution does not yet have a defined structure. Both proposals centre on the question of how any future wealth generated by AI-related companies will be distributed and who will benefit from it.