On Saturday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk apparently revealed that Microsoft founder Bill Gates had made a huge bet against his electric car company.
This appears in what is supposed to be an exchange of leaked text messages between billionaires, posted by Tesla influencer Omar Kadi under the pseudonym “The Complete Mars Catalog”. The person in question sometimes communicates directly with Musk on Twitter, and uses the channel to ask if the messages are authentic.
And Musk confirms this in a response, where he says he heard from several participants at the TED Conference in Canada earlier in April, that Gates has a short position against Tesla worth $ 500 million, equivalent to 4.5 billion kroner.
“That’s why I asked him, so it’s not so secret,” the Tesla boss wrote.
In the alleged SMS exchange, the party to become Musk asks if Gates is “still” in the position, which the alleged Gates confirms.
He writes: “It’s a shame to say, but I haven’t closed it yet.”
The calm of the gates
Gates goes on to claim that he would like to discuss philanthropy with Musk. That’s impossible, answers the Tesla boss, as long as Gates shortens Tesla, “the company that does everything it can to solve climate change.”
Bill Gates has not yet commented on the alleged short position. DN has contacted representatives of the Microsoft founder, and will update the status if they respond.
CNBC I haven’t heard from Gates either. The news channel describes several times what according to Forbes He is the richest man in the world (Musk) and he quarreled with the fourth richest man in the world (Gates).
Photo of Microsoft founder Bill Gates at a conference in February. Several media outlets have tried to persuade him to talk about Musk’s proposal, but so far it has remained calm. (Photo: Thomas Kienzle/AFP/NTB)
Lose a boner quickly.
On Saturday afternoon, Musk sent Bill Gates his perhaps most venomous bite to date, posting a photo of the Microsoft founder, along with an emoji of a pregnant man.
The richest man in the world wrote, “In case you need to lose your ‘bonener’ (childish slang for an erection, editor’s note) quickly,”
Elon Musk barely made a “meme” for Bill Gates, as DN found it had been posted multiple times in the days leading up to his appearance with the Tesla boss. From the context, it appears to be a reaction to the fact that Apple just released blanket emoji, including those in the image.
Musk is a known opponent of short selling who believes it should be banned. And he regularly rages against investors who think his company is overpriced.
He’s also quick to trigger on Twitter. in 2018 had to resign from the chairmanship of the board of directors and pay a fine of 320 million, After claiming on the platform that he will take the company off the stock exchange at $420 a share. As part of his settlement with the US FSA, he also agreed that all of his Twitter messages had been pre-approved by a lawyer.
The issue came back to the negotiating table again in March, when Musk went to court to dismiss the clause, he writes the edge. He now claims to have already secured funding to buy Tesla from the exchange, but the SEC has pressured him to settle. It comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched an investigation into Elon and Kimbal Musk, in connection with the two big brothers’ sale of Tesla shares while the price was at its highest levels last year.
Closing at $1,005 on Friday, the stock is down 17 percent from the top. Tesla’s market capitalization is just over $1,000 billion.(Conditions)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link that leads directly to our pages. All or part of the Content may not be copied or otherwise used with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
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