Elon Musk’s pledge to give every child in America a share in SpaceX has already paid one dividend: effusive praise from President Donald Trump.
“A BIG THANK YOU to our legendary friend, Elon Musk,” Trump wrote Monday, calling the proposed gift an act of “incredible generosity.”
He said the shares would go to children through Trump Accounts, the investment accounts created under his administration.
It was an enthusiastic response to Musk’s commitment earlier in the day. “Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America,” he wrote on X. “This will be the first of many.”
Significantly, Trump shared his praise in a post on X, a platform he has eschewed in recent years since launching his social network, Truth Social.
Trump was barred from Twitter in 2021 after the Capitol riot, and while his account was reinstated after Musk bought and renamed the platform, the president has been an infrequent poster since then.
Musk’s $10 billion donation promise
There are roughly 72 million children in the US, and SpaceX stock closed Monday at about $148 a share. At that price, one share apiece would put the gift’s value at around $10.6 billion. Its eventual value will depend on SpaceX’s share price at the time the stock is transferred.
Trump has been waiting for this particular contribution. In July, he said he thought Musk would donate SpaceX stock to Trump Accounts, even as he referred to their very public falling-out as a “little dispute.”
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and her husband had already pledged shares for more than 2 million children’s accounts.
Musk and Trump have a turbulent relationship. The world’s richest man was one of Trump’s biggest financial backers in the 2024 election, spending more than $200 million to help elect him. The pair were close enough during the first few months of Trump’s return to the White House for Musk to earn the nickname “First Buddy.”
He then became the public face of the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency before leaving in May 2025.
After leaving DOGE, Musk was highly critical of the president’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” calling it a “disgusting abomination.”
From ‘First Buddy’ bromance to a feud to a thaw, here’s how Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s relationship has evolved
Musk has recently resumed spending heavily to shape Republican politics ahead of the midterms. Since July, he has given about $276 million, including $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund; the super PAC later sent matching sums to a Texas group supporting Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign.
Lately, Musk has been seen publicly with Trump several times; the president awarded him the National Medal of Science earlier this month, and when China’s leader Xi Jinping visited the US in September, he sat at the president’s table at a state dinner.
Details are still unclear on Musk’s SpaceX share giveaway
If confirmed, Musk would join other wealthy backers of the program. Michael and Susan Dell contributed $6.25 billion to the accounts of 25 million children, with the gifts directed first to children in lower-income ZIP codes. Musk’s donation would be larger than the Dells’ barring a significant drop in SpaceX’s share price.
For now, it remains a promise. Musk has not detailed who would qualify as a child under his plan, how he would get shares into every eligible account, or when the transfers would happen next year.
For Trump, the promise brings one of the country’s wealthiest business leaders behind a program he has promoted. “This is exactly what was envisioned when we created TRUMP ACCOUNTS,” he wrote Monday.
