The similarities between Bill Gates and Elon Musk, two innovative tech titans-turned-investors worth hundreds of billions, are clear. The differences are a little more nuanced.
Gates, a billionaire who has chosen not to play with rocket ships, thinks Musk's fervent desire to colonize Mars is a little "bizarre." And Gates, a climate-focused philanthropist, doesn't quite see eye-to-eye with Musk on issues of charity.
But the biggest point of contention between the two men, according to an excerpt from Walter Isaacson's coming biography, "Elon Musk," revolves around Tesla (TSLA) -).
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Musk gave Gates a tour of Tesla's Austin, Texas gigafactory in 2022. During the tour, Gates tried to probe the eccentric innovator's brain about issues of climate change and philanthropy. Musk, however, was convinced that the better climate change investment would be in Tesla, rather than some charity.
Before they engaged in this debate, Gates had shorted Tesla's stock. By the time the conversation occurred, Gates had lost $1.5 billion on his bet against the company.
"Musk had heard about it and was seething," Isaacson wrote. "Short-sellers occupied his innermost circle of hell. Gates said he was sorry, but that did not placate Musk."
Gates put his short in place with the expectation that EV supply would outpace demand, pushing prices down (something that's going on now) and making his short position profitable. But Musk, seemingly far more idealistic than Gates, took the short personally. Any hint of a potential friendship, one multi-billionaire to the other, had died.
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“How can someone say they are passionate about fighting climate change and then do something that reduced the overall investment in the company doing the most?” Musk asked Isaacson following the visit. “It’s pure hypocrisy. Why make money on the failure of a sustainable energy car company?”
When Gates later told Musk he still had a short position in place against Tesla, Musk took to Twitter to make his thoughts on the Microsoft (MSFT) -) co-founder clear.
"I cannot take your philanthropy on climate seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change," he told Gates in a text, later telling Isaacson: “At this point, I am convinced that he is categorically insane (and an asshole to the core). I did actually want to like him (sigh).”
He doesn’t get enough negative feedback. This platform is great for that :).
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 11, 2023
Gates has invested much of his fortune into climate solutions and climate tech startups, pushing for green energy and carbon capture.
Musk, despite his apparent focus on sustainability, also regularly launches rocket ships, an act that, in the numbers SpaceX is pushing, is vastly increasing the injection of soot into the upper layers of the atmosphere, which can heighten global warming and worsen climate change. The test flight of his Starship project set fire to the neighboring state parkland, according to a lawsuit brought against regulators for allowing SpaceX to fly.
SpaceX's activities have a “significant adverse impact on the local community," the lawsuit reads.
If you work for Tesla, contact Ian by email ian.krietzberg@thearenagroup.net or Signal 732-804-1223
