Musk pledges $10.7 bn SpaceX stake to US children

Elon Musk pledged on Monday to give one SpaceX share next year to every US child, a transfer worth about $10.7 billion, Al Jazeera reported in an Oct. 21 news article.

The pledge would cover about 73 million children and comes two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, after Musk donated more than $276 million to Republican groups since July.

“This will be the first of many,” Musk wrote on X.

US President Donald Trump thanked Musk on Truth Social and said the shares would be distributed “through TRUMP ACCOUNTS”, child investment accounts created under Trump’s tax and spending law last year.

At Friday’s closing price of $146.03, the proposed transfer would total about $10.7 billion. SpaceX listed on Nasdaq in June at $135 a share, and its shares have fallen 35.3% from a peak reached days after the listing.

Control and tax stakes

US Census Bureau data put the under-18 population at about 73 million. Each $1 move in SpaceX’s stock price would change the pledge’s value by about $73 million.

Musk owned 4.8 billion SpaceX shares outright in an August filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Including unvested awards and stock options, his stake was about 6.4 billion shares, or 48.4% of the company.

A gift of 73 million shares would reduce Musk’s outright holding by about 1.5%. His voting power, currently about 82% because SpaceX has two classes of shares, would fall by only 0.1 percentage point, according to a Bloomberg Opinion calculation cited in the article.

The mechanics remain unsettled. Musk has not said which children would qualify, when the shares would be delivered or how the transfer would be executed.

Nearly 70 million Trump accounts have been opened, one for every child under 18 with a Social Security number, according to the White House. Investments in the accounts can grow tax deferred until withdrawal at age 18, or be rolled into a tax-friendly IRA, a retirement account for adults.

Under Treasury rules published Sept. 30, donors can now give individual company shares through the accounts. Families and friends making regular contributions are limited to low-risk index funds, while families generally cannot reject gifted shares or sell them for five years, or until the end of the year the child turns 17 if that comes earlier.

The pledge also lands as SpaceX’s ownership, valuation and governance are drawing wider attention. Atlas360 reported on Oct. 21 that Musk said independent committees at SpaceX and Tesla are discussing a possible merger, with terms unresolved and shareholder approval required.

Atlas360 also reported on Oct. 21 that media investor John Malone tied a possible $10 billion SpaceX investment in Skydance to Skydance’s debt load and Starlink’s push for a larger entertainment role. Those separate discussions add context to why a large SpaceX share transfer carries implications beyond a personal gift.

The gift could have tax advantages for Musk, though the final treatment would depend on execution. CNBC reported that donors who give appreciated stock to charity avoid capital gains tax and can usually claim a deduction; selling $10.7 billion of founder-held SpaceX stock could otherwise mean a tax bill of up to about $2.5 billion.

Mitchell Downey, an economist at Stockholm University’s Institute for International Economic Studies who studies US political influence, told Al Jazeera he did not believe the pledge raised legal concerns. “Individuals are allowed to spend their money in support of a politician,” he said.

Downey said the ethical issue was broader: “the outsized role that external donors play in US elections”. He compared the concern to wealthy donors spending heavily on television advertisements for a candidate.

Dates to watch

On Nov. 3, US voters will decide control of the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate. The pledge is already tied publicly to Trump accounts, and its political effect will be judged against that election calendar.

During 2027, the promised handover is supposed to occur, but Musk has not disclosed eligibility rules, account mechanics or a delivery timetable. Those details will determine whether the pledge reaches every US child or a narrower group.

In June 2027, a reported restriction on Musk selling or trading most of his SpaceX shares is due to expire. Any transfer before or after that window would affect how investors assess the gift’s relationship to Musk’s broader SpaceX holdings.

Source: news report, Al Jazeera – Africa, Oct. 21, 2026; Atlas360 background, Oct. 21, 2026