What they say: “Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every child in America. This will be the first of many,” Musk said in a message to X just before 4 a.m. ET on Monday.
- It did not clarify whether “child” meant all minors under 18 or some other status, nor did it clarify what “first of many” meant.
- He also did not respond to X accounts asking if he was talking about all children in the United States, or just citizens.
In figures: According to the Census Bureau, there are just over 72 million people under the age of 18 in the United States.
- If everyone got one share of SpaceX stock, at Friday’s closing price of $146.03, that would represent a market value of just over $10.5 billion.
- Musk owns billions of SpaceX shares, so the gift would only make a small dent in his holdings.
Zoom: Musk’s commitment is not the first from SpaceX.
- In July, the company’s chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, announced that she would give a share of the stock to each of the 2 million Trump accounts, a gift now worth nearly $300 million.
Zoom out: Musk’s announcement comes a day after Anthropic announced the creation of a new public benefit fund with 5% of the company’s equity, an entity potentially worth $100 billion or more.
- Musk responded to the Anthropic news by saying “I recommend giving the shares directly to the public”, later adding “That’s what I will do.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with substantive details.
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