SpaceX No. 2 exec donates $320 million of stock to Trump Accounts

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, said she plans to donate $320 million of stock in Elon Musk’s rocket company to investment accounts for kids that the Trump administration launched on the Fourth of July.

Shotwell said she would donate one share of SpaceX stock, worth $165 on Monday, to accounts for more than 2 million children, with a focus on lower-income families in Texas, where SpaceX is based. The gift represents about one-fifth of the Class A SpaceX shares that Shotwell owns or has an option to buy. Those carry a single vote, compared with the more powerful Class B shares that Shotwell, Musk and other executives also own.

It’s unclear exactly how the stock transfers would work, or who may be eligible to receive Shotwell’s contribution. Semafor reported last month that the White House had held talks with SpaceX about donating stock to Trump Accounts.

Trump Accounts were originally designed to own index funds to protect kids from wild market swings. Last week, the Treasury Department said that donations of stock could go into the accounts, but didn’t provide details, and the law that set up the program requires that investments inside the accounts track indexes. When President Donald Trump was asked Monday whether he had spoken with other CEOs about donating stock, he replied that “I speak to everybody,” adding: “I’m like a cheerleader for geniuses.”