Bill Gates reveals the moment Elon Musk confronted him and became ‘super mean’ over shorting $1.5 billion worth of Tesla stock: ‘A little bit of a d**k-measuring contest’

Elon Musk and Bill Gates – who have both held the title of richest in the world – entered a ‘d**k-measuring contest’ after Tesla’s CEO confronted Microsoft’s founder last year about shorting the company’s shares electric car company.

Musk publicly mocked Gates on

In a biography of Musk to be published next week, Walter Isaacson writes that Gates spoke to Musk in September of that year and said he wanted to “come see him and talk about philanthropy and climate at a meeting.”

The meeting took place at Musk’s factory in Austin, Texas, where the SpaceX owner confronted Gates about the decision to short Tesla stock. Gates apologized for the measure – which cost him $1.5 billion – but Musk was still upset and became “super mean” to the Microsoft leader.

“But he’s super mean to so many people, so you can’t take it too personally,” Gates told Isaacson.

When Gates first asked for the meeting, Musk responded by saying he had no planner or personal assistant, and told Gates to have his secretary call him directly.

Gates bypassed his secretary and scheduled the meeting for March 9, 2022.

Musk gave Gates a tour of his Austin factory, which impressed Gates, but the two still had a lot to discuss during his visit.

When Isaacson finally pressed Gates on why he was shorting the stock, he simply thought he could make money by doing so, which Isaacson called “alien” for Musk.

“How can someone say they are passionate about fighting climate change and then do something that reduces the overall investment in the company that does the most?” Gates asked Isaacson days after Gates’ visit.

‘It’s pure hypocrisy. Why make money from the bankruptcy of a sustainable energy car company?’

Grimes, Musk’s girlfriend and the mother of three of his children, called the incident “a little ad**k measuring contest.”

Gates was also critical of Musk’s belief that solar energy could solve climate change and that batteries could one day power semi-trucks.

“I showed him the numbers,” Gates said CNBC. “It’s an area where I clearly knew something he didn’t.”

Gates also spoke derisively about Musk’s attempt to colonize Mars.

“I’m not a Martian person,” Gates told Isaacson. ‘He’s overboard on Mars. I had him explain his Mars thinking to me, which is quite bizarre thinking. It’s this crazy thing where maybe there’s a nuclear war happening on Earth and so the people on Mars are there and they’re going to come back and, you know, still be alive after we all kill each other.”

Where the two really fell out was over philanthropy, which Musk said was “bulls**t” and that only 20 cents of every dollar he donated would actually have an impact.

Gates tried to show him some projects he had spent $100 million on and seen a big impact.

There’s a low-key feud bubbling between the pair, much of which seemingly stems from the Texas meeting.

Musk previously lambasted Gates’ physique on Twitter, posting a photo of the Microsoft mogul next to Apple’s controversial pregnant man emoji “in case you need to kill a boner.”

Gates, the third richest man in the world after Musk and Jeff Bezos, took a shot at Tesla CEO earlier this year after the electric vehicle maker announced it had taken a $1.5 billion stake in Bitcoin.

“Elon has a lot of money and he is very sophisticated, so I don’t worry about his Bitcoin going up or down randomly,” Gates told Bloomberg.

“I think people are getting caught up in these manias when they may not have that much money to spare, so I’m not bullish on Bitcoin. My general thought would be that if you have less money than Elon, you should probably be careful,” he said.

Gates has also previously commented on electric trucks like the Tesla Semi not being viable, which Musk took issue with.

In an interview about the Joe Rogan Experience, Musk said he believes the Microsoft founder once had a large short position in Tesla stock.

‘I heard that at one point he had a large short position. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it seems weird,” Musk told Rogan.

“People I know who know the situation quite well, I asked them, ‘Are you sure?’ and they said, ‘Yes, he has a huge short position on Tesla.’ That didn’t work out so well.

‘

Isaacson’s book, which will be published on Tuesday, contains several revelations about Musk.

The billionaire CEO of Tesla, X and Space

In response to the accusation, Musk said that while he did not order engineers to turn off the satellite system, he refused Kiev’s request to turn it on because, he said, he “wanted to avoid being complicit in a major act of war.” .

The world’s richest man, in the early days of the Russian invasion in February 2022, began providing free access to Space

But late last year his enthusiasm began to wane and he became increasingly concerned about taking sides. Ultimately, he ordered the internet shut down to stop a ‘kamikaze drone’ submarine attack on Russian warships.

In another revelation, Isaacson, who observed Musk through the difficult days of his Twitter acquisition, told a Twitter Spaces event on Thursday that Musk had a “maniacal sense of urgency” that scared his employees.

The writer, who has also published biographies of Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci, said Musk often flew into anger with employees during his early days at Twitter, when he fired more than half of the workforce.

“He would go dark and I would know he was just going to tear that person apart,” Isaacson recalled.

The writer, who has also published biographies of Steve Jobs and Leonardo da Vinci, said Musk often flew into anger with employees during his early days at Twitter, when he fired more than half of the workforce.

“He would go dark and I would know he was just going to tear that person apart,” Isaacson recalled.