Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, is known for making headlines for his statements on social media.
In a recent post on X, Musk made a bold claim by stating that if Tesla becomes the most valuable company in the world, even billionaire Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, could potentially declare bankruptcy.
The statement has reignited the long-standing feud between Musk and Gates. The conflict dates back to 2022, when Gates reportedly suffered a significant loss of $1.5 billion due to his short position in Tesla shares.
Musk posted on X: “If Tesla becomes the most valuable company in the world by far, that short position will bankrupt even Bill Gates.”
Musk’s statement was a response to an X user, Teslaconomics, who shared an old tweet of his.
In the 2023 tweet, the CEO claimed that taking a short position against Tesla, as Bill Gates did, would only yield the highest return if Tesla were to file for bankruptcy.
Musk also claimed that Gates had made a massive bet on Tesla’s demise during a vulnerable period for the company.
He further said that such a large short position can push down the stock price, which affects regular investors.
“As far as I know, Gates *still* has that huge bet against Tesla on the table. Someone should ask him if he does.
“The lack of self-awareness and hypocrisy of Gates who had the nerve to ask me to donate to his environmental causes, which are mostly window dressing, while at the same time claiming to make $500 million off of Tesla’s demise,” the tweet read.
When asked about his investment during a 2021 CNBC interview, Gates chose not to comment on his holdings but praised Tesla’s achievements, saying, “What Elon has done with Tesla is fantastic.”
Shorting is a stock market strategy in which an investor borrows shares that he or she does not own, sells them at the current price, and then attempts to repurchase them later at a lower price.
The investor profits from the difference between the initial sale price and the lower purchase price, essentially betting on the stock falling.
Elon Musk’s statement comes at a time when Tesla’s current market capitalization is about $1.251 trillion, substantially lower than Apple’s $3.729 trillion.
To overtake Apple and become the most valuable company in the world, Tesla would have to experience a remarkable growth of almost 200%.
