Elon Musk pledges one SpaceX share for every American child; it could cost him just 1% of his fortune

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk said on Monday that he plans to give one SpaceX share to every child in the United States next year. In a post on social media platform X, the SpaceX chief executive described the move as the first of several such initiatives. "Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many," Musk wrote.

Musk did not provide details about how the proposed distribution would work, including the eligibility criteria, timeline, regulatory requirements or whether the shares would be transferred directly to children or held through a trust.

SpaceX is one of the world's most valuable private companies, with businesses spanning commercial rocket launches, satellite internet services through Starlink and human spaceflight.

What could Musk's SpaceX share giveaway cost?

Musk is SpaceX's largest shareholder with about 48.4% stake in the company as of June 30. According to reports which cited recent regulatory filings, Musk's holdings included approximately 6.42 billion SpaceX shares. These comprised 849.5 million Class A shares and 3.92 billion Class B shares held through trusts for which he serves as trustee. Musk also directly owned about 1.30 billion restricted Class B shares and had rights tied to stock options covering another 350 million Class B shares.

Notably, as per US Census Bureau data, the United States has just over 72 million people under the age of 18. So even if Musk donates one share to every American kid, it would hardly make a dent in his holdings. According to a report of Axios, if each child received one share valued at $146.03, the total market value of the proposed giveaway would exceed $10.5 billion.


The estimated $10.5 billion value represents the shares' market value at closing price on Friday. The final value would depend on the number of eligible recipients, the share price at the time of distribution and the terms of the proposed transfer.

Still, it would be a tiny fraction compared to Musk's total networth.

Currently, Musk is the world's richest person, with an estimated net worth of more than $900 billion. At a net worth of $908.5 billion, a $10.5 billion share distribution would represent approximately 1.16% of his fortune.

Musk has not yet disclosed the full terms of the plan or confirmed how the shares would be distributed.

Notably, earlier SpaceX president and Billionaire Gwynne Shotwell also pledged to gift a share of the stock to each of 2 million Trump accounts. Fortune in a report pointed out that the changes in Treasury rules have opened the doors of ultraworthy to donate stocks to Trump accounts. The Fortnue report claimed that this way the tax code makes such donations an efficient way to give but compromises some kids's savings as they get tied to a single company's fortunes.