Why Elon Musk, Anthropic and other AI titans are giving away shares

By William Gavin

Gifts of stock can help with public relations and offer financial advantages to wealthy individuals

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is reportedly valued at around $922 billion. His planned donation would cost a fraction of that.

The leaders of some top artificial-intelligence companies say they plan to spread the wealth - in their own ways.

In a post on X on Sunday, Elon Musk said he would "give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America," confirming in a follow-up post that he would do so through "Trump accounts." Musk is the CEO of both SpaceX (SPCX) and Tesla (TSLA), which has made him the world's wealthiest person alive. According to Forbes, his net worth currently stands at around $922 billion.

The Treasury Department has so far opened more than 70 million of the tax-deferring Trump accounts for children. Americans with a valid Social Security number who are under the age of 18 are eligible for the accounts, which the U.S. formally launched in July. Several major companies have agreed to match donations to the accounts, and some notable business leaders have announced their own commitments.

For instance, Dell Technologies (DELL)CEO Michael Dell and his wife, Susan Dell, have said they will donate $6.25 billion to Trump accounts. Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio has also pledged to donate $250 to the accounts of some 300,000 children in Connecticut. Excluding Musk's commitment, a Treasury Department official said over $8 billion has been deposited in Trump accounts since July 4.

Unlike those donors, Musk, plans to donate stock. The Treasury Department recently said that it was made aware that "several eligible donors who would not otherwise make cash contributions are prepared to facilitate contributions of appreciated stock."

Giving away one share to each of the estimated 72 million children in the U.S. would cost Musk roughly $10.5 billion, based on SpaceX's stock price at Friday's close. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's longtime COO, in July said she and her husband would donate one SpaceX share each to 2 million accounts.

"We have been fortunate in our careers and hope this gift encourages the next generation to continue the journey of enabling humanity to live and fly amongst the stars," Shotwell said in a statement.

Making donations of stock can be a smart move for some investors, especially if they're sitting on a lot of shares. Fidelity notes that doing so can potentially increase an individuals' gift and tax donation compared to donating cash.

"Donating appreciated stock is one of the smartest moves a charitably minded investor can make," David Kassir, a managing director at Manna Wealth Management, told MarketWatch over email. "You avoid the capital-gains tax you would owe if you sold it, you can generally deduct the full market value, and the charity or account receives the whole amount."

Kassir added that stock concentration can still be cause for concern. The Treasury Department has said that Trump-account beneficiaries will "bear some additional risk" due to higher portfolio concentration. Shares contributed to Trump accounts can also only be sold after five years.

Musk is SpaceX's top shareholder, with 82.4% of the voting power of its common stock. He owns more than 849 million class A shares, which he will likely draw from to make his donations, as well as the vast majority of SpaceX's class B shares.

However, all of his stock is currently locked up under the rules of SpaceX's initial public offering. That could prevent Musk from making any donations until June 2027.

If Musk follows through with his donations, it could provide a boost to his polarizing reputation. Reena Aggarwal, a professor of finance at Georgetown University, likes the approach of donating to Trump accounts, which she said could help lower-income individuals.

Musk, she noted, doesn't have a reputation as a philanthropist, despite his wealth. His nonprofit foundation had $14.7 billion in assets and gave away $474 million in 2024, according to its most recent filing. A large portion of that amount went to a nonprofit that runs a school near Musk's businesses in Bastrop, Texas.

"[G]iving shares, which are stakes in the future economy, directly to the people is the way," Musk wrote on X on Monday in reply to a post praising him for "bypassing" traditional routes of giving, such as donations to nonprofits.

Musk's announcement came seemingly in response to Anthropic's own plan to donate a large chunk of its shares to a new limited liability company that will focus on advancing its goals.

Five percent of Anthropic's shares will be committed to the LLC, pending shareholder approval, it said. Another 2% will be added "at the board's discretion" each time the company's value grows 50% above an undisclosed set baseline.

All together, 20% of Anthropic's shares will be "dedicated to the public good," according to the company, since many of its employees and each of its co-founders have committed to giving away some of their equity. As an example of its aims, Anthropic said it would study and address labor instability driven by AI.

Anthropic said the LLC will give it more flexibility and scale than a typical nonprofit. It added that it may explore donating to nonprofits or directly distributing funds to "specific populations."

"It is common practice for tech companies to offer escalating compensation awards to their executives. We are instead directing that equity to the public benefit," Anthropic said in a statement.

The plan comes as Anthropic's plans for a major initial public offering collide with public discontent around AI.

Don't miss: Could an Anthropic IPO put your 401(k) at risk? The AI safety debate hits a new dimension.

The new LLC is unlikely to do much to change investors' perception of Anthropic, according to Aggarwal, who studies IPOs. She noted that Anthropic, which is incorporated as a public benefit corporation, already has a reputation for its focus on helping society.

"At the end of the day," Aggarwal told MarketWatch that Anthropic's valuation, profitability and other metrics will be at the forefront of investor's minds.

-William Gavin

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10-19-26 1530ET