Musk says he will give every American child a SpaceX share next year

Elon Musk — Source: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Around 73 million children and adolescents under the age of 18 live in the United States. Now, tech billionaire Elon Musk has announced that he will give each of them a share in his space company.

Musk's Announcement

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has announced that he will give every child in the United States a share in his space company SpaceX. "Next year I will gift one of my SpaceX shares to every child in America," the world's richest person declared on X. He said this would be his first step of its kind, "of many."

He did not provide any details on how he intends to implement his announcement. According to official figures from 2024, around 73 million children and adolescents under 18 live in the United States. According to data from Forbes magazine, Musk owns 38 percent of SpaceX.

At the current SpaceX share price, the stock package for such a gift to them would be worth more than ten billion dollars (8.92 billion euros). Musk's fortune is currently estimated by the financial service Bloomberg at just over 900 billion dollars. It consists mainly of shares in SpaceX and in the electric car manufacturer Tesla, which he also heads.

Possible Trigger: Anthropic's Announcement

One trigger for Musk's move appears to be the announcement by AI company Anthropic over the weekend that it would initially contribute five percent of its shares to a fund intended to benefit the public good. Musk subsequently wrote on X that he recommended transferring shares directly to the public.

Share Below Its Highs

The SpaceX share initially soared after its stock market debut in June — but has since fallen far from its highs beyond the 200-dollar mark, with prices now below 150 dollars. Doubts remain about the current valuation of 1.9 trillion dollars. The rocket business is currently relatively small, and the valuation is more of a stock market advance on successes Musk has promised in artificial intelligence. In that area, however, SpaceX lags significantly behind Anthropic and ChatGPT developer OpenAI.

Echoes of a Trump Campaign Promise

Musk's share announcement is reminiscent of a campaign promise by US President Donald Trump: In September, the Republican head of state held out the prospect of 5,000 dollars (around 4,460 euros) for each US citizen if his party wins the congressional elections on November 3.

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Musk appeared to have fallen out with Trump last year, but he now seems to be back in the president's favor. In early October, Trump awarded the entrepreneur the country's highest scientific honor and described Musk as "our Thomas Edison of today." Musk has donated at least 276 million dollars to the Republicans' campaign for the November elections.

SpaceX eclipsed all previous stock market debuts with its IPO in June. The company raised 85.7 billion dollars in the process.

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