Rich man Elon Musk confronted rich man Bill Gates about shorting Tesla stock
Finally, an Elon Musk Twitter story that doesn’t involve him potentially owning the website.
The Tesla CEO took to his Twitter page (home to many bad tweets) to personally confirm a rumor swirling around that he had turned down an opportunity to work with Bill Gates over some good old-fashioned rich guy beef. It all started earlier that evening, when an account called Whole Mars Catalog posted several screenshots allegedly showing a text exchange between Musk and Gates.
In the conversation, Musk asks Gates if he has a $500 million short stock position against Tesla. In investor-speak, that means Gates would financially benefit if Tesla’s value falls, rather than the traditional investing method of putting money into a stock and hoping it succeeds. Gates confirms he does, brings up the possibility of the two doing philanthropic work together, and is promptly shut down by Musk for, uh, hoping Tesla fails.
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The original post made it clear that the veracity of the texts hadn’t been confirmed, but Musk did the thing Musk does and hopped in himself. He said it was real, but that he didn’t leak it. (Mashable has not confirmed the authenticity of the text exchange.)
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What does this mean for you and I? Not much, really. It’s mostly just Musk being a little messy about an alleged conversation that occurred between he and another guy who is absurdly wealthy. I guess this is what rich people argue about. Knowing Musk, it might be smart to consider the possibility that the texts aren’t real. You never know.
The biggest conclusion to draw here, if the screenshots are real, is: Bill…green texts? Really? Come on, man.
UPDATE: Apr. 24, 2022, 3:55 p.m. EDT Musk has decided he's "moving on" in a pair of tweets Sunday, see below.
On Sunday, Musk tweeted a pair of messages at first seemingly, then definitely aimed at the whole Gates feud. First, a simple and vague "Moving on..." had followers wondering what it was all about.
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Then, he cleared it all up.
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Sure, moving on. Sounds like it.
Topics Elon Musk
Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.
