The news that Elon Musk gave each American child a SpaceX stock in the "first round" attracted more than 8.2 million views, 228,000 likes and 29,000 shares, after only 4 hours of posting.

"Next year, I will give every child in America a SpaceX stock," Musk wrote on X on October 19. "This will be the first of many."

Sharing received many positive responses. In the comments section, many people "claimed" to be American children, or "wished to be American children".

SpaceX only began trading publicly in June, currently trading at about $146 per share, according to Forbes. Data from the US Census Bureau last year showed that, as of July 2025, the country had about 72 million people under the age of 18, meaning the amount of money Musk donated was estimated at 11 billion USD.

According to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August, Musk currently owns about 4.8 billion SpaceX shares. This number increases to 6.4 billion shares if unvested bonuses and stock options are included, representing an effective 48.4% stake in the company.

However, according to CNBC, Musk's proposal still "lacks detail", as it is unclear how the portions will be distributed to tens of millions of American children or whether all will qualify or only those who meet certain criteria.

According to CNN, Musk's proposal was said to be in response to Anthropic's announcement on October 18, that the company would dedicate at least 5% of its shares to a "Community Benefit Fund" - a fund that donates money to social causes, including non-profit organizations or "direct distribution to specific population groups". This figure is expected to be worth about 48 billion USD according to the latest valuation.

"I recommend distributing shares directly to the public. That's what I would do," Musk wrote on X after Anthropic's announcement.

Both offers come as many AI companies face public backlash over safety issues, the potential for mass unemployment, as well as the social and environmental impact of building giant data centers in the industry.

"In general, technology tycoons are under a lot of pressure," CNN commented.

According to Forbes, Musk currently tops the ranking of the world's richest people with a net worth of about 924.8 billion USD.

Bao Lam summary

• Musk criticized memory chip companies for 'price gouging', but praised Micron
• Musk praised Bezos for investing his own money in Blue Origin
• Elon Musk was summoned over AI safety