Musk announces plan to give SpaceX shares to U.S. children

Elon Musk has stated he intends to give a share of his company SpaceX "to every child" in the United States starting in 2027. The billionaire made the statement in a brief message posted on his social media platform X, where he wrote that this would be the first of a long series of such actions.

Scale of the proposed gift

According to the last census, there were 73 million children under the age of 18 in the United States. A SpaceX share is currently worth 146 dollars, and if Musk carried out this operation this week, it would involve distributing the equivalent of 10.7 billion dollars. Musk's fortune is estimated at 904 billion dollars, and he owns 38% of SpaceX.

Comparison to previous political promises

Two weeks before the U.S. legislative elections, this announcement recalls the promise made by Donald Trump in September to distribute a "dividend" of 5,000 dollars per citizen if his Republican party retains control of Congress. Trump’s proposal, however, was not tied to a specific company or asset.

Musk's recent initiatives

In recent weeks, Musk has been making multiple initiatives. Last week, he unveiled his Tesla Roadster, an electric car prototype equipped with propulsion systems allowing it to perform some aerial acrobatics. Although it will not be commercialized before 2028, the images have gone around the world.

SpaceX's recent achievements

On September 28, Starship, the megaboom of his space company SpaceX, reached orbit for the first time and deployed 26 Starlink satellites, its internet access service, before landing in the Pacific. This marked a new milestone for his Martian ambitions. His geopolitical weight has also been manifested, with Ukraine complaining about disruptions to Starshield, the military version of Starlink, on which its armed forces depend.