Musk, the world's richest man, issued a warning to former richest man Bill Gates over the weekend, saying that if Gates has not completely liquidated his short position in Tesla that he has held for nearly eight years, it is best to act quickly. Gates has been shorting Tesla's stock for a long time, which is one of the key reasons why Musk has always been dissatisfied with Gates. Musk pointed out that Gates shorted Tesla at a critical moment, which dampened the investment confidence of ordinary Tesla investors.
Musk's latest warning originated from a message posted by a technology blogger on Sunday. The account Tesla Owners Silicon Valley pointed out that the Gates Foundation is selling off its Microsoft shares, cashing out nearly $9 billion, while Gates is also closing his short position in Tesla.
Musk's warning to Gates may be venting Musk's long-standing dissatisfaction with Tesla's short positions, but on the other hand, it also reveals his firm belief in Tesla's future stock price rise.
Earlier this month, Tesla shareholders voted to approve Musk's trillion-dollar compensation package, granting Musk the right to acquire a large number of Tesla shares and further expanding Musk's influence in Tesla, which makes him full of confidence.
Long-running feud between richest men
As of the end of October, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed that Musk was firmly on the throne of the world's richest man with a net worth of US$469 billion, nearly US$150 billion higher than the second-placed Oracle Chairman Ellison. Gates has been the world's richest man for 13 consecutive years during the Internet era because he single-handedly founded Microsoft.
In April 2022, Musk revealed that he canceled a climate change charity donation meeting with Gates because he discovered that Gates had spent $500 million shorting Tesla stock.
In addition, Gates' doubts about Tesla's electric semi-trailer trucks also annoyed Musk. Various conflicts eventually led to years of discord between the two billionaires.
Although shorting Tesla once cost Gates a lot of money, and the loss in 2022 is estimated to be around US$1.5 billion, Musk still cannot let go of his conflict with Gates.
Musk also publicly commented on a show that judging from his direct communication with Gates, Gates' scientific literacy is not high. In the past decade or so, Gates has been vocal on issues such as climate, population, and vaccines, and is considered one of the richest people who has donated the most to the scientific community.