Despite an apology from Bill Gates, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is sticking to his feud with the Microsoft founder and is now even mockingly talking about his impending bankruptcy.
• Tesla shares benefit from Trump victory
• Tesla short sellers are coming under pressure
• Elon Musk jokes about impending bankruptcy for Bill Gates
Elon Musk’s closeness to US President-elect Donald Trump has caused Tesla shares to skyrocket in recent weeks. Since the Tesla boss massively supported the Republican during his election campaign, investors are now betting that this will, among other things, be reflected in the dismantling of burdensome federal regulations for self-driving cars.
Tesla short sellers under pressure
However, the price explosion of Tesla shares does not only have winners: the numerous short sellers are coming under considerable pressure. As “Teslarati” reported on December 10, some of them have left their positions as a result, but some are still there. In view of this, Tesla boss Elon Musk announced on his short message service X that short positions would be wiped out everywhere if the rise in Tesla shares continued to a certain level.
A swipe at Bill Gates
Musk also heated up his dispute with Bill Gates again: “If Tesla becomes by far the most valuable company in the world, this short position will even drive Bill Gates into bankruptcy,” he wrote in his X-Post. At that point, Tesla was the eighth most valuable company in the world. The tech giants Apple, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta, among others, were more valuable.
If Tesla does become the world’s most valuable company by far, that short position will bankrupt even Bill Gates
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2024
This is not the first time that Musk has spoken of Gates’ downfall: he had already written on “will be destroyed” – “Even Gates”.
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Once Tesla fully solves autonomy and has Optimus in volume production, anyone still holding a short position will be obliterated. Even Gates.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 2, 2024
Long-standing feud
The conflict between the two billionaires has been going on since 2022. As author Walter Isaacson revealed in his biography of Musk, there was a falling out between the two as Gates held a short position on Tesla that was said to have caused him a $1.5 billion loss. Musk sharply criticized this short position: “How can someone say they are passionate about fighting climate change and then do something that reduces overall investment in the company that does the most?” Musk railed Isaacson.
According to Isaacson’s book, Gates apologized for the short position, but Musk apparently cannot forgive. According to “Teslarati”, it is not even known whether Gates still has a short position against Tesla because he has not commented publicly on the company for some time.
Editorial team finanzen.net
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