Abstract:
Recently, the American billionaire Musk announced that he would give one SpaceX stock to every child in the United States, which attracted widespread attention. Later, some media exposed Musk’s existence
Donations in arrears
History
.
According to the Global Times on October 21, citing foreign media reports, Musk signed the "Donation Pledge" in 2012 and promised to donate half of his wealth. But he is skeptical of traditional philanthropic methods. His nonprofit Musk Foundation had more than $14 billion in assets as of the end of last year, but over the past four years it has failed to meet the legally required minimum donation.
The above-mentioned arrears of donations undoubtedly cast a shadow on Musk’s latest stock donation declaration. Whether it can ultimately be fulfilled remains to be seen.
Musk
October 19
Posted on social platforms, "Next year I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every child in the United States." He also said: "This is just the first step in a series of actions in the future." However, Musk did not give the age of the "child", nor did he confirm whether the "child" is a U.S. citizen to be eligible to receive it.
SpaceX
October 19
Closing price $147.96
/
Share calculation,
If Musk gives away shares, the value will be close to US$11 billion. It is reported that
The distribution will be through government-backed investment accounts established during the Trump administration.It is worth noting that just one day before Musk announced the stock bonus, technology companies
Anthropic has announced that it will donate 5% of its shares to establish a charity fund.
On October 18, local time, Anthropic announced that it planned to invest 5% of the company's shares in a newly established public welfare fund. Thereafter, for every 50% increase in the company's valuation from a certain benchmark level, the board of directors can decide at its discretion to increase its share investment by an additional 2 percentage points.
Anthropic said the fund may be used to "explore large donations," including donations to traditional non-profit organizations, or directly disburse funds to specific groups; it may also take a "bolder approach" to study and respond to the impact of AI on employment and the job losses it causes.
In response to Anthropic’s announcement, Musk responded on social platforms, “It is recommended that these shares be directly handed over to the public.”
Some analysts believe that Musk and
Anthropic
's donation move is classified as "crisis PR" because both donation proposals come at a time when artificial intelligence companies are facing backlash over product safety, artificial intelligence has the potential to squeeze humans out of jobs on a large scale, and the social and environmental impact of the industry's huge data center construction.
In August this year, a report released by the Pew Research Center showed that 71% of American adults believe that AI will lead to fewer jobs in the United States in the next two years.
From a policy background perspective,
The donation by Musk and Anthropic may be related to a temporary regulation previously issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
At the end of September this year, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued temporary regulatory rules, opening up a new path for charities to donate listed stocks in bulk under the framework of Trump’s children’s accounts. It allows charities and government entities to equally distribute individual stocks to large groups of children, with mandatory lock-ups and investment restrictions, providing institutional support for large companies and wealthy people’s stock gift plans for teenagers.
The U.S. Treasury Department says potential donors will be more willing to donate if their children can own stock in a particular company. At the same time, these donations can bring tax benefits to the donor, including exemption from capital gains tax and being tax deductible against other income.
Musk is currently the richest man in the world. In September this year, Forbes released the 2026 list of the richest Americans, showing that Musk topped the list with a net worth of US$908 billion, US$530 billion higher than second-placed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Musk’s surge in wealth is mainly due to
The push for SpaceX to go public.
On October 20, local time, SpaceX released its third quarter 2026 financial report, which showed that during the reporting period, the company's revenue was US$14.58 billion, a year-on-year increase of 161%; net profit was US$4.4 billion, a year-on-year loss. At the close of the day, the company's share price was US$147.79, with a market value of US$1.95 trillion. After the market closed, the company's share price rose by more than 8%.
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