Elon Musk Revives Beef with Bill Gates Over Shorting Tesla

Elon Musk is apparently still not over the fact that Bill Gates bet against Tesla, even as his multimillion-dollar short has ballooned into a $1.5 billion loss, Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez reported for Fortune.

Gates reportedly shorted, or bet against, Tesla’s stock to the tune of $500 million, earning him a personal text from Musk and “super mean” behavior. (Photo: Gates Foundation) 

The Tesla CEO, on a victory lap after shareholders approved his massive $1 trillion pay package, demonstrated his feud with Gates is alive and well — years after it started.

“If Gates hasn’t fully closed out the crazy short position he has held against Tesla for ~8 years, he had better do so soon,” said Musk in a recent post.

The post, in reply to an anonymous user commenting on the Gates Foundation’s offloading of Microsoft stock, breathed new life into Musk’s conflict with Gates, which dates back to 2022.

Gates reportedly shorted, or bet against, Tesla’s stock to the tune of $500 million, earning him a personal text from Musk and “super mean” behavior, Gates said in a later interview with Musk biographer Walter Isaacson.

The Tesla CEO at the time asked Gates bluntly if he had taken the short position, which the Microsoft co-founder confirmed, though he added in the message that he wanted to talk about philanthropy possibilities. Musk, however, balked at the idea.