Alex Bruno
For some time, rumors have swirled that Bill Gates, the former world’s wealthiest man and a philanthropist known for his efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, had staked a significant sum of money against Tesla, the world’s biggest manufacturer of electric vehicles. Elon Musk’s most recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast sparked the initial wave of speculation. Rogan brought up Bill Gates’ critique of the Tesla Semi throughout their talk. When asked why Bill’s assessment of the Tesla Semi was incorrect, Musk went into great detail.
On top of defending the Tesla Semi, Musk said that Bill’s criticism of Tesla’s 18-wheeler could have a more nefarious motive. “I’ve heard from credible sources that Bill Gates has a short position on Tesla,” Musk said during the show. According to Musk, he’s “lost a lot of money” if the report is accurate. Bill’s short position on Tesla was not supported by any evidence at the time of Musk’s claim. Musk’s charges looked implausible in light of Bill Gates’ longstanding support for renewable energy.
However, in the following appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Gates fanned the flames of the allegations even more. “If he presently has or has had a short position against Tesla,” the interviewer questioned Gates. If Bill Gates had the chance, the presumption was that he would put the record right, categorically deny any short positions against Tesla, and that would be it. But here’s what Gates had to say in response:
Tesla has made a huge contribution to the public’s understanding of electric vehicles and their role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We need more Elon Musks now that he’s been given a carbon removal task. Bill Gates added, “We need one for steel, cement, and all the other categories.”
“So you are not short Tesla, just so that we are clear?” the CNBC interviewer questioned Bill again. “I don’t speak about my investments, but I believe he should be quite pleased with what he has accomplished,” remarked Gates, mumbling his next few words.
Bill’s reaction was noteworthy because, in addition to claiming he doesn’t discuss his investments, he refused to say if he had shorted Tesla shares. The discussion began with Bill Gates describing his investments in Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, and QuantumScape at the outset of the conversation.
People began to believe that Bill Gates was secretly betting against Tesla. However, no one knew for sure whether Gates had shorted the shares of the EV manufacturer. That is, up until today.
Bill Gates and Elon Musk seem to have exchanged a leaked text conversation yesterday, according to the New York Times. Gates contacts Musk to explore charity potential in the back and forth between two of the wealthiest people in the world.
He then asks whether he still has “a half-billion-dollar short bet on Tesla,” to which Gates responds, “Yes.” The response from Bill Gates was a bit of a shocker: “Sorry to announce I haven’t closed it out.”
However, there were still suspicions regarding the validity of the text message sent by the former Microsoft CEO. At the very least, such was the case up to this point. Musk verified the authenticity of the text exchanges a short while ago through Twitter.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has denied being the source of the leak, stating on Twitter: “I didn’t leak anything to NYT. I don’t know where it came from. “Friends of friends” must have introduced them to each other.”
Following this, Musk wrote, “I heard from numerous individuals at TED that Gates still had half-billion short on Tesla, which is why I asked him, so it’s not exactly top secret.”
It raises the question if Musk was not the source of the leaks, who was it who took the screenshots? While there is no doubt that Bill Gates is one of the most enthusiastic champions of renewable energy, it is hard to understand why the billionaire would gamble against a firm that is doing more than anybody else to speed up its adoption.
We haven’t heard from Bill Gates about why he placed such a large stake in Tesla as of yet. However, if we get a response from Bill Gates, we will keep you informed. Until then, keep an eye on torquenews.com/Tesla for any fresh information. So, what are your thoughts? Is Bill Gates surprised that he put up $500 million to short Tesla? Which Tesla short-seller assaults do you believe are being orchestrated by the former CEO of Microsoft? As a follow-up question, do you believe the texts were leaked by Musk? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.
Source: TorqueNews
