elon musk and bill gates
Elon Musk stated that he did not want to work with Bill Gates since the two billionaires disagreed on Tesla’s future.
On Twitter, which Musk is buying for $44 billion, reported screenshots of a text message discussion between the Tesla CEO and the Microsoft co-founder were shared on Friday.
The communications appeared to show Musk declining a philanthropic offer from Gates after the software developer asked if Musk had shorted his electric vehicle company, implying that Gates would profit if the stock’s value fell.
”Do you still have a half billion dollar short position against Tesla?” Musk asked, per the screenshots, to which Gates allegedly replied, “Sorry to say I haven’t closed it out. I would like to discuss philanthropy possibilities.”
“Sorry, I cannot take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla,” In the conversation, Musk responded.
Gates’ spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.
Asked if the messages were “real,” Elon replied on Twitter, “yeah.”
“I heard from multiple people at TED that Gates still had half billion short against Tesla, which is why I asked him, so it’s not exactly top secret,” Musk wrote.
Musk claimed in a tweet that he “didn’t leak” the screenshots to The New York Times, adding that “They must have got it through friends of friends.” (The New York Times has not covered the texts, and it’s unclear why Musk addressed it.)
Musk had the Twitter interaction with a pro-Musk account managed by Omar Qazi, who is a co-defendant in Musk’s continuing libel and harassment claim, according to CNBC.
Last year, when speaking with CNBC, Gates was questioned specifically if he had ever shorted Tesla stock, a claim Musk has previously made.
“I don’t talk about my investments,” he said, adding that Musk “should be very proud of what he’s done.”
“I think what Elon’s done with Tesla is fantastic,” he said at another point in the conversation. “It’s probably the biggest single contribution to showing us that electric cars are part of how we solve climate change.”
Gates discussed how firms like Tesla are focused on “the easy stuff” when it comes to combating carbon pollution in a 2021 interview with the New York Times.
“But we’re basically not doing enough on the hard stuff: steel, cement, meat. And sadly, the things people think about — the electricity, passenger cars — are a third of the problem,” Gates said. “So we have to work on the two-thirds.”
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