Bank Hapoalim says free shares made new investors, backing Musk (opens the source in a new tab)
- In the WSJ, Bank Hapoalim's spokesperson praises Elon Musk's plan to give one SpaceX share to every American child next year.
- Israel's largest retail bank offered customers two of its shares or a cash grant in 2025. In the first round, about 240,000 people who had never held securities with it became shareholders, and it added a free investing-basics platform.
- Her case: owning even one share makes people curious about prices, dividends and earnings, and the first step is the hardest.
- 240,000
- first-time shareholders in round one
Why it matters Gifting shares is a cheap way to widen market participation, a live question wherever household savings sit mostly in cash, gold or deposits.
Other side The author speaks for the bank that ran the scheme, and a gift share doubles as marketing. Musk's plan is still a promise, and real financial literacy takes more than one stock.