Elon Musk, the billionaire investor-inventor, made a cheeky shot at Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Twitter on Saturday morning. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc., took to Twitter to share a photo of Bill Gates with an emoji of a man with a big belly. Musk tweeted the image with the caption, “in case you need to lose a boner fast.”
Elon Musk’s post on Twitter looks to be a deliberate hit at Bill Gates, as the Microsoft giant previously attempted to short his Tesla stock stakes worth half a billion, which may have pushed Tesla’s stock prices down.
Whole Mars Catalog, a Twitter user who uploaded photographs of an alleged conversation between Elon Musk and Bill Gates, said that Bill Gates texted Elon Musk to discuss “philanthropy” on climate change. On the other hand, Elon Musk addressed Gates, asking if he still had a half-billion short position in Tesla stock.
A dialogue between Elon Musk and Bill Gates is depicted in the screenshots. The screenshots revealed Bill Gates texting Elon Musk to congratulate him on SpaceX’s accomplishment. Musk responds by asking Gates if he still has a $half a billion short bet against Tesla, which Gates confirms, saying, “Sorry to say, I haven’t closed it out,” implying that Gates still maintains significant short bets in Tesla, potentially disrupting Tesla’s stock prices.
Gates further said that he wanted to talk about philanthropic opportunities. But instead, an enraged Musk answers Bill Gates by arguing that he cannot take his climate change philanthropy seriously because he has a big short position against Tesla, the firm doing the most to tackle the problem.
The Twitter user also tagged Elon Musk to confirm the leaked conversation. Musk reacted to the Twitter user by stating that it was real but that he did not reveal it to the media.
“They must have got it through friends of friends. I heard from multiple people at TED that Gates still had half-billion short against Tesla, so I asked him, so it’s not exactly top secret,” Musk said.
Because massive short transactions by renowned persons like Bill Gates would almost likely trigger financial disaster and market panic, resulting in a future decline in stock prices, Gates’ having half-a-billion short bets in Tesla is terrible for Elon Musk. Musk was unhappy with Bill Gates because he believed Gates was placing short bets on Tesla to pressurise him.
Musk’s comment criticising Bill Gates went viral on Twitter, with some appreciating the world’s wealthiest man’s wit.