They are two of the wealthiest men on the planet. But Elon Musk and Bill Gates have never quite seen eye to eye. Musk built his business empire as the founder, CEO, and chief engineer of SpaceX. He is also the CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.He has multiple other business interests and recently became the owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc. Musk has an estimated net worth of around $210 billion as of October 27, 2022. Musk is now the wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes magazine.Meanwhile, William (Bill) Henry Gates III, made his fortune as a software developer and investor. He co-founded Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. From 1995 to 2017, he held the Forbes title of the richest person in the world every year except from 2010 to 2013. As of October 2022, Gates had an estimated net worth of US$107 billion, making him the fifth-richest person in the world. He is also a philanthropist and has donated millions to charity.You would think the Microsoft billionaire and the Tesla and SpaceX titan would have loads to talk about. But they have openly disagreed about everything from electric vehicles to the pandemic. The two fundamentally disagree on a number of issues including how to fight disease, cryptocurrency, and the importance of space travel.At one point, it did seem that Gates and Musk were coming together to tackle climate change. But after finding out some damning information, Musk quickly ended their collaboration. By text.
Elon Musk And Bill Gates Had A Few Disagreements
The relationship between Gates and Musk first became strained during the pandemic. At first, both billionaires used their name and money to help fight the virus. Musk even teamed up with the German biotech firm CureVac (in which Gates is an investor) to make a device to aid in vaccine production.
But Musk started to cast doubt on the severity and strongly criticized the stay-at-home orders.
"Elon's positioning is to maintain a high level of outrageous comments ... I hope that he doesn't confuse areas he's not involved in too much," Gates said on CNBC's Squawk Box. The comments clearly annoyed Musk, who taunted Gates on Twitter. Musk jokingly posted multiple tweets about Gates, writing "Billy G is not my lover" and "The rumor that Bill Gates & I are lovers is completely untrue."
During a podcast interview with The New York Times in September 2020, Musk defended his role. "Gates said something about me not knowing what I was doing," Musk said. "It's like, 'Hey, knucklehead, we actually make the machines for CureVac, that company you're invested in.'"
Elon Musk Ended A Climate Change Collaboration With Bill Gates Via Text
Elon Musk confirmed that he ended a philanthropic opportunity with Bill Gates, after screenshots of the texts were shared on Twitter by the account @WholeMarsBlog. The first screenshot appears to show a text from Gates confirming a day and time to meet, to which Musk responds "Great." Another screenshot shows a text, supposedly from Gates, saying "just landed" and Musk responding "cool."
But things went left when Musk sent a follow-up text, writing: "Do you still have a half billion dollar short position against Tesla?" To which Gates replied: "Sorry to say I haven't closed it out," adding, "I would like to discuss philanthropy possibilities." Musk replied: "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."
A short position means an investor sells a stock they've borrowed with the goal of buying it back later at a lower price. The investor is basically betting that the stock's value will fall. After the texts leaked, Musk tweeted that they were real but that he did not leak them.
He added: "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." Shortly after commenting on the texts Friday night, Musk also tweeted a meme of Gates that compared the Microsoft founder to the pregnant man emoji and wrote: "in case u need to lose a boner fast."
Bill Gates Claims He Does Not Have An Issue With Elon Musk
The major bone of contention between Gates and Musk appears to be climate change. Gates has questioned how big of an impact Tesla has had in reducing emissions and helping the planet. Musk also took issue with a blog post Gates wrote that probed whether it was practical to make 18-wheeler vehicles fully electric. Although, Gates did not mention Tesla by name, it is something the company is reportedly working on.
When Twitter user asked Musk about his opinion of Gates' comments, Musk replied, "he has no clue." Though Musk recently said he's "moving on" from making fun of Gates. In the past, Musk has shared memes mocking the Microsoft founder over the years. He once tweeted an anti-vaccine political cartoon about Gates, and poked fun of his weight online.
However, during an interview with YouTuber Hugo Décrypte, Gates did not have any personal digs at Musk - claiming it was "his issue." When asked whether they're friends, Gates replied, "I like him. I think he does great work. I don't know him very well."
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