Elon Musk has predicted that fellow billionaire tech mogul Bill Gates will be “ruined” for shorting Tesla shares, reigniting a feud marked by national differences over climate change, the coronavirus and electric cars.
Musk was responding on Tuesday to a user on his social media platform, X, who had invited him to comment on what he would say to so-called “Tesla bears,” a group of Wall Street investors who have long believed the electric vehicle maker’s stock is overvalued.
“Tesla [self-driving] “Once Tesla develops self-driving cars and mass produces Optimus, anyone still holding a short position will be wiped out, even Gates,” the Tesla CEO wrote, referring to Optimus, a robot that will operate autonomously at Tesla’s Giga Texas factory.
Tesla shares have surged more than 17% over the past two trading days after the company reported on Tuesday that vehicle deliveries in the second quarter of this fiscal year were 5% lower than expected.
The recovery in Tesla shares has cost short sellers an estimated $3.5 billion in mark-to-market losses, according to data from S3 Partners. CNBC first reported the news..
Tesla short interest currently stands at 3.5% of shares outstanding, or 97 million shares, with a notional value of $22.4 billion, the report added.
It’s unclear whether Gates is currently shorting Tesla shares.
The Washington Post has reached out to Gates for comment.
Tesla shares have risen more than 40% in the last month after a long slump brought on by falling sales and growing competition from Chinese EV brands including Warren Buffett-backed BYD.
Musk’s net worth is Bloomberg Billionaires Index Rating With a net worth of $252 billion, Gates is the richest person in the world. Gates’ net worth is around $158 billion, putting him in 8th place on the list.
In 2022, Gates admitted to Musk biographer Walter Isaacson that he had been shorting Tesla shares, meaning he had bet that the stock price would fall.
Musk posted screenshots of a text message exchange he had with Gates, trying to gauge the Tesla tycoon’s interest in doing more to combat climate change.
“I’m sorry but I cannot take your climate philanthropy seriously given your massive short position in Tesla, the company most committed to solving climate change,” Musk wrote to Gates.
“He was very mean to me when he heard I had shorted stocks,” Gates told Isaacson in 2022. “But he’s very mean to a lot of people, so don’t take it too personally.”
Gates said he had apologized to Musk.
The feud between Musk and Gates began in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when Gates pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to help develop a vaccine, while the Tesla CEO pledged to provide ventilators to overwhelmed hospitals.
In the summer of 2020, Gates criticized Musk for making comments that appeared to downplay the seriousness of the virus.
“Elon’s position is to maintain a high level of outrageous commentary,” Gates says.The old CNBC of those days.
“He’s not really involved in vaccines. He makes great electric cars. And his rockets are working great. So he can say things like this. Hopefully he doesn’t disrupt areas he’s not really involved in.”
Musk responded on social media, jokingly writing, “Billy Gates is not my boyfriend” and “the rumors that Bill Gates and I are dating are completely false.”
Musk defended himself by saying he helped build machines used by vaccine maker CureVac, in which Gates is also an investor.
That same year, Gates angered Musk by saying he bought a Porsche Taycan electric car instead of a Tesla.
Musk responded on social media, saying his conversation with Gates was “a bit disappointing, to be honest.”
In 2021, Gates praised Musk, telling the podcaster that Tesla is “one of the biggest contributions to climate change ever” and that “it’s not a good idea to underestimate Elon.”
But the following year, Gates said he had “done more on climate change than Elon or anybody else.”
“I give a lot of money to charities and I support companies, and as you know, electric vehicles account for about 16 percent of emissions, and the other 84 percent still needs to be addressed,” Gates said.
“Sigh,” Musk responded on Twitter.
Gates also seemed less than impressed with Musk’s goal of helping humans move to Mars, telling The New York Times in 2021 that he’s “not a Martian” and doesn’t think rockets are “the solution.”
In a later podcast interview, Gates said of Musk, “I like him. I think he’s doing a great job. I don’t know him that well.”
Last September, The Washington Post reported that Musk attempted to “straight-up shake hands” with Gates while on Capitol Hill at an AI summit hosted by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
