Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, has said he will give every child in the United States one free share of SpaceX. The pledge came a day after Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company, announced it would transfer 5% of its shares to charitable organisations through a public benefit fund, with the proceeds intended for large donations to traditional non-profits.
Musk said he prefers helping people directly rather than donating through NGOs and intermediary organisations. After first suggesting in an interview that he would give shares straight to the public, he clarified in a post on X that, starting next year, each child in the US would receive one SpaceX share free of charge.
Musk holds about 4.8 billion SpaceX shares, rising to 6.4 billion when other options are included, which gives him roughly 48.4% of the company. Official figures put the number of Americans under 18 at about 72 million. At the current market price of $146 per share, or about Rs 13,873, distributing one share to each child would be worth around $10.5 billion, or roughly Rs 1 lakh crore. Musk has not said how the shares will be credited to children’s accounts. SpaceX stock rose to $150.53 following the announcement.
The pledge drew praise from business leaders. Brad Gerstner, head of Altimeter Capital and Invest America, called it the largest philanthropic gift in human history, saying it gives tens of millions of children a free lifetime investment account early in life. Anthropic has meanwhile said it will allocate a total of 20% of its shares to the public good, and is reportedly preparing for an initial public offering.