Elon Musk and Anthropic unveil AI wealth-sharing plans that could reach over $110 billion
Musk's 2027 promise concerns his own holdings, while Anthropic's initial allocation needs stockholder approval and future additions remain discretionary. Read the full story on CryptoSlateUnderstand the crypto stories that matter and what to watch next. Get The Catalyst in your inbox
Elon Musk pledged to give American children over $10 billion in SpaceX shares, offering millions of families ownership in his AI technology empire.
On Oct. 19, the world's first trillionaire announced he would distribute one personally owned SpaceX share to every child in the United States in 2027, potentially creating about 72 million new shareholders.
At SpaceX's Oct. 16 closing price of $146.03, the proposed distribution would represent roughly $10.5 billion in equity, making it one of the largest individual philanthropic commitments in recent years.
The announcement followed AI developer Anthropic's proposal to commit 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund, subject to shareholder approval. At the firm's current valuation of around $2 trillion, that would be $100 billion.
The company could increase that allocation by another two percentage points for every 50% increase in its valuation above a specified baseline. However, this is at its board's discretion.
Anthropic intends to use the fund for charitable donations, direct distributions to selected populations and initiatives addressing AI-related job displacement. Including existing employee and founder pledges, the company estimates that roughly 20% of its equity would be dedicated to public benefit.
Musk responded to the proposal by recommending that companies distribute shares directly to the public before announcing his own commitment, which he described as the first of several planned giveaways.
President Donald Trump endorsed Musk's pledge, saying the shares would be distributed through Trump Accounts, a federally established investment program designed to help American children accumulate long-term wealth.
Trump described the commitment as an example of private-sector participation in the initiative, which allows individuals and businesses to contribute to children's investment accounts.
The proposed distribution would draw on Musk's existing SpaceX holdings. According to an August securities filing, he directly owns approximately 4.8 billion shares, with beneficial holdings rising to 6.4 billion when unvested awards and stock options are included.
Giving away 72 million shares would reduce his directly held position by about 1.5%, letting him make a multibillion-dollar donation without requiring SpaceX to issue additional stock or dilute existing investors.
The proposed distribution also benefits from Treasury regulations introduced in September that permit qualifying publicly traded shares to be contributed directly to Trump Accounts.
Under those rules, donated stock generally must remain invested for five years or until the beneficiary's designated growth period ends, whichever comes first.