Bill Gates sounded shocked in Walter Isaacson’s new book about Tesla CEO Elon Musk when he explained that the head of the electric automaker was “super mean” to him after he found out the former Microsoft frontman was shorting the company’s stock.
Gates had reached out to Musk several years ago to discuss philanthropy opportunities. However, Musk was aware of Gates’ short position against Tesla and asked him whether he had closed out his bet against the electric automaker in a series of texts that leaked in 2022.
“Do you still have a half a billion dollar short position against Tesla?” Musk asked Gates in the texts.
“Sorry to say I still haven’t closed it out,” Gates replied. “I would like to discuss philanthropy opportunities.”
Musk, needless to say, was not interested.
“Sorry, but I cannot take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change,” Musk replied to Gates. The philanthropy meeting obviously never took place.
In Walter Isaacson’s new book, a biography titled “Elon Musk,” Gates said that he later apologized, but the relationship with Musk never improved:
“Once he heard I’d shorted the stock, he was super mean to me, but he’s super mean to so many people, so you can’t take it too personally.”
It is interesting that Gates would expect anything but adversity in terms of his relationship with Musk after shorting the stock. Gates put a $500 million bet into the idea that Tesla would fail, a substantial sum of money for anyone, even Gates, who, like Musk, has spent time as the World’s Richest Person.
However, Tesla has always been a company dedicated to accelerating the transition to sustainable energy, and this means that Gates, who claimed to be interested in philanthropy with Musk, was more concerned about investing in his personal net worth than investing in a company that was disrupting the automotive industry with EVs and making solar energy more accessible for millions.
Not to mention, Gates has had his other digs at Musk in the past, especially when it comes to things like the Tesla Semi and Musk’s ultimate goal of colonizing Mars.
Anyone who knew that someone did not believe in them or their company would likely act the same way.
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