Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said on Monday she and her husband will donate their own shares in the aerospace company to the Trump Accounts program.
The initiative launched on Saturday, coinciding with the Fourth of July and gifting tax-deferred investment savings accounts to U.S. children born during President Donald Trump’s second term in office.
The parents of more than 6 million children have registered for Trump Accounts, with about 1.4 million of them eligible to receive the initial $1,000 contribution provided by the federal government. Shotwell said her donation will benefit over 2 million children, prioritizing those who live in central Texas.
“Every American child under 18 can benefit from having a Trump Account, but our gift specifically goes to the Accounts of children (ages 11-17) that live in areas with lower average household incomes with a bit more emphasis for those that live near our central Texas home,” she posted on X.
Shotwell lives on a 1,000-acre ranch near the SpaceX rocket-engine testing facility in McGregor, known as “The Rocket City.” Her husband, Robert Shotwell, is an engineer for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
“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,” the SpaceX president said.
She is one of SpaceX’s largest individual shareholders, with an estimated $2 billion stake in the company following its historic initial public offering last month.
The donation is notable given Trump’s ties to SpaceX founder Elon Musk. In a CNBC interview last week, Trump said he believed the trillionaire would donate company stock to the program. Musk has not confirmed whether he would do so.
Shotwell joins a growing list of companies and billionaires that pledged to contribute money to the millions of investment savings accounts. Dell CEO Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, were among the first to announce such a move, committing $6.25 billion to 25 million Trump Accounts in December. Comcast, Intel, JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock, and many more employers have since pledged to match the federal $1,000 contribution for their own employees’ children.
Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Trump Accounts allow families and employers to allocate up to $5,000 annually, which beneficiaries can access once they turn 18. Children born between January 2025 and December 2028 are eligible for the government-issued $1,000 deposits.
‘DONALD TRUMP’S NEW DEAL’: TRUMP ACCOUNTS CELEBRATED AS SIGNATURE POLICY WIN
At a White House event on Monday, Trump revealed that the initial $1,000 deposits have been sent to over 500,000 children across the nation. The announcement came after America celebrated its 250th anniversary of independence.
The president rang the stock market’s opening bell, commonly seen at the New York Stock Exchange, at 9:30 a.m. to mark the launch of the Trump Accounts.
