After the buzz around Elon Musk wanting to purchase Twitter, another big news regarding him turning down Microsoft's Bill Gates. Once again, the CEO of Tesla took it to the social media platform he's trying to buy to share how he turned down an opportunity to work with Gates on philanthropy.
Musk Turns Down Gates' Request to Work on Philanthropic Matters
On top of turning down working with Gates on philanthropic matters, Musk revealed that the co-founder of Microsoft still has half a billion dollars shorting Tesla stock. According to the story by Mashable, the statement by Musk came after an account called Whole Mars Catalog shared screenshots allegedly showing exchanged texts between the two.
Whole Mars Catalog shared screenshots of a text exchange between Tesla's Musk and Microsoft's Gates. In the text exchange, Musk allegedly asked if the Microsoft co-founder had half a billion-dollar position shorting Tesla.
Yeah, but I didn’t leak it to NYT. They must have got it through friends of friends.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 23, 2022
I heard from multiple people at TED that Gates still had half billion short against Tesla, which is why I asked him, so it’s not exactly top secret.
Gates Confirmed He Had a Short Position on Tesla's Stock
Gates confirmed the short position stating he wanted to discuss "philanthropy possibilities," but Musk responded that he couldn't engage in the Microsoft co-founder's philanthropy on climate change seriously when the co-founder still had a short position against Tesla.
Musk even said Tesla was "doing the most" compared to other companies when it came to trying to solve climate change. When asked for confirmation, the CEO of Tesla said that it was true, but it was not him who leaked the texts to the New York Times.
How Did Musk Hear About Bill Gates' Short Position on Tesla?
The Tesla CEO said the information might have broken out through friends of friends, saying the information regarding Gates' half-billion short position on Tesla came from multiple people at TED. This led to Musk asking the Microsoft co-founder straight away.
As explained by Mashable, a short position on Tesla meant that it should make the stock fall. The short position would earn money. A short position is made when an investor expects the stock of a certain company to go down, and when it does, the investor will profit from the difference from their entry position.
Gates Asked Musk to Work on Philanthropic Matters Despite Shorting the Company
A short position is the opposite of a long position, wherein the investor makes a profit should the stock go up. To put things plainly, Gates is hoping that Tesla's stock will fail while asking Tesla's CEO to work together on philanthropic work.
Mashable announced that they couldn't confirm whether or not the texts were authentic. Like other situations in the past, instead of leaving things to rumor, Musk decided to hop in on the conversation to confirm the texts.
The publication noted one detail from the text exchanges: the texts were in the green, meaning the CEO of Microsoft used an Android device instead of an iOS.
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Written by Urian B.
