Elon Musk promises to give every child in America a free SpaceX share next year

[midian182]

What just happened? Elon Musk makes a lot of big promises, not all of which come to pass, but it's hard to see how he'll renege on this one. The world's richest person says he will give one of his SpaceX shares to every child in America next year, adding that "this will be the first of many."

Musk explained the plan on his X platform. He didn't elaborate, so we don't know details such as what ages will qualify for a free share, how he intends to distribute them, and exactly when the giveaway will take place in 2027.

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2026

It's estimated that Musk would be required to give a share to around 72 million people under the age of 18. SpaceX's share price is currently $146, so that would represent stock worth about $10.5 billion.

Musk certainly has plenty of SpaceX shares to hand out. The company's SEC filing in August showed he owned 6.42 billion shares as of June 30, including shares held in trusts for which he acts as trustee, restricted stock, and shares that could be issued upon exercising options.

Space X's year-to-date share price

Musk's announcement comes soon after Anthropic, xAI's rival, said it would commit 5% of its shares to a fund that will make donations for the "public good." The company later said that the fund could also receive another 2% of the firm's shares at its board's discretion. Anthropic's IPO could value the firm at more than $1 trillion

Musk responded to the Anthropic announcement by writing "I recommend giving the shares directly to the public. This is what I will be doing."

The moves also echo the thinking behind Trump Accounts, the tax-advantaged investment accounts for children that give eligible US citizens born between 2025 and 2028 a $1,000 government-funded head start. Families, employers, and other donors can add money, which is invested in funds tracking US stocks to help children build wealth as they grow up.

There's already a SpaceX connection to the program. The company's chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, has pledged more than $320 million of her own SpaceX stock to help fund Trump Accounts for over two million children.

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Elon Musk promises to give every child in America a free SpaceX share next year

 

[The Talking Tech]

A scummy way to entice people to keep investing on his company.

It's Elon Musk, so it's not surprising.

 

[m4a4]

Expecting a slow tech news week or something? Something this tech adjacent just looks like you're fishing for a large comment count from the predictable rabid "tech" commenters...

 

[GeoffreyA]

How lucky the youth of America are : -)

 

[Kirby1]

His likes per **** went down by almost half after Ukraine hit a couple Russian data centers.

Might even be quieter around here as a result.

 

[toooooot]

What about kids who are not living legally with their parents?
Knowing his stance on this topic, I would be surprised if
he meant this rather than the "American kids"

 

[dangh]

Yeah, kids, get a share, you can see your dad in Sunday, maybe, he will be sleeping in my factory...
Seriously. Billionaires there will do anything to pretend they care, but still universal health care or free education is a curse word. What's the point to give a child a monies when exploiting everything around?

 

[hahahanoobs]

Humans got dumber after the internet. Just think about that for a second.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Yeah, kids, get a share, you can see your dad in Sunday, maybe, he will be sleeping in my factory...
Seriously. Billionaires there will do anything to pretend they care, but still universal health care or free education is a curse word. What's the point to give a child a monies when exploiting everything around?

We already give those to the needy, doesn’t seem to be fixing anything.

 

[amstech]

A scummy way to entice people to keep investing on his company.

It's Elon Musk, so it's not surprising.

I hear there are great deals in France right now. You should fly there today to take advantage of the 'killer' bargains.

 

[amstech]

Yeah, kids, get a share, you can see your dad in Sunday, maybe, he will be sleeping in my factory...
Seriously. Billionaires there will do anything to pretend they care, but still universal health care or free education is a curse word. What's the point to give a child a monies when exploiting everything around?

The only person responsible for your prosperity is you.

 

[amstech]

We already give those to the needy, doesn’t seem to be fixing anything.

They don't want to admit that.

 

[amstech]

What about kids who are not living legally with their parents?
Knowing his stance on this topic, I would be surprised if
he meant this rather than the "American kids"

Screw the American kids, we should all be very happy with those folks who hate Musk and vote left, like France. You should fly to France today help them out.

 

[yRaz]

We already give those to the needy, doesn’t seem to be fixing anything.

That's a joke. The problems REALLY start to appear when you DON'T give the needy food and healthcare. The increasing deficit in access to those things is a large reason why we have gone from a high trust to a low trust society over the last ~15 years.

here's an interesting thought, We could have given everyone in the US healthcare for the next 3 years for the cost of the war in iran so far. instead, we are making cuts to medicare, medicaid and social security to pay for it.

 

[amstech]

That's a joke. The problems REALLY start to appear when you DON'T give the needy food and healthcare. The increasing deficit in access to those things is a large reason why we have gone from a high trust to a low trust society over the last ~15 years.

here's an interesting thought, We could have given everyone in the US healthcare for the next 3 years for the cost of the war in iran so far. instead, we are making cuts to medicare, medicaid and social security to pay for it.

The United States isn't a piggybank or sanctuary for the rest of the world.
We don't owe anyone a dime.
Those countries are poor $hitholes due to thier radical left, radical islam, radical liberal policies and socialist systems that never work. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR PROSPERITY. Not other people or other countries.
80% of the Somalians that have lived here in the USA for over 10 years are still on entitlement programs and don't work or contribute to society.
The main issue with America is WAY TOO MANY able body folks are lazy and don't contribute to society. Our entitlement, retirement and social programs are on the brink of collapse. It's suicidal empathy by feminine, weak liberal little boys like you thats the cause.
They are not here in the USA to help the Country prosper, they are here to mooch, raid and pillage.
If we don't stop whats happening in Iran, the current state of France is what will happen to the USA. Every place that embraces radical left, radical Islam gets turned into rubble. It's already been destroying this Country for 15+ years. People have taken advantage of the USA's generosity, and its time for them to grow up and take care of themselves.

 

[yRaz]

The United States isn't a piggybank or sanctuary for the rest of the world.
We don't owe anyone a dime.
Those countries are poor $hitholes due to thier radical left, radical islam, radical liberal policies and socialist systems that never work. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR PROSPERITY. Not other people or other countries.

I was talking about our country. Homelessness is increasing at rates never seen before, more people are uninsured now than have been in the last 30 years and we are making it more difficult for people to eat in a number of ways. 1, it's harder to get access to food stamps, but we are also removing farm subsidies, increasing the costs of fertilizer and fuel with a needless war and we're watching retailers post record profits as they blame price increases on inflation.

The system is broken and the economy has been broken.

Just a note, radical liberal and radical islam ARE mutually excluse terms. Islamic extremists are out beheading gay people and tell people to pray to healed.

 

[amstech]

Homelessness is increasing at rates never seen before, more people are uninsured now than have been in the last 30 years and we are making it more difficult for people to eat in a number of ways. 1, it's harder to get access to food stamps, but we are also removing farm subsidies, increasing the costs of fertilizer and fuel with a needless war and we're watching retailers post record profits as they blame price increases on inflation.

These are all examples of entitlement programs being taking advantage of.
Military spending is nothing compared to what the US spends on entitlement programs.

 

[yRaz]

These are all examples of entitlement programs being taking advantage of.
Military spending is nothing compared to what the US spends on entitlement programs.

The funny thing about emtitlement programs is that you pay into them expecting to get something back. The whole reason we pay into them is that we've been told we are ENTITLED to those benefits. That's part of the social contract we all signed to live in a civilized society. They call Social Security "SSI" because it is called Social Security INSURANCE. Unemployement isn't something lazy people use, it's something that comes out of my paycheck every week so that I can pay my mortage when there is 3 feet of snow on the ground and we can't pour concrete. All the people in the tech world getting laid off right now "due to AI" are absolutely using their Unemployment INSURANCE while they look for a new job.

 

[Kashim]

It's very telling that he's not giving away stock that's actually doing well like Tesla. He's giving away SpaceX shares because the stock price is low and he's desperate to prop it up. He's giving away less than 1% of his shares so it's not as generous as it sounds, especially if it causes a spike in the stock's price. Whatever he gives away he'll probably recoup 100x as much or more.

There's an old saying that seems appropriate; You can help others a little while helping yourself a lot.

 

[amstech]

The funny thing about emtitlement programs is that you pay into them expecting to get something back. The whole reason we pay into them is that we've been told we are ENTITLED to those benefits.

The people taking without contributing is outnumbering the people contributing and paying in.

 

[yRaz]

The people taking without contributing is outnumbering the people contributing and paying in.

Do you have a source for that?

Edit: you know what, I agree with you. We are diverting funds from entitlement programs to pay for things like tax cuts and the war in Iran

 

[Honest Abe]

Not sure why all the negative comments. Everyone is always saying how Elon could give away his riches to help the world. Well, he's saying he's giving away a free investment to our children. I personally think that's awesome!