The founder of Microsoft and the CEO of Tesla are currently at loggerheads. Bill Gates is speculating that Tesla’s share price will fall. Elon Musk, on the other hand, is certain that he will soon be able to squeeze out all shareholders.
What is the point of contention between the two? The billionaire assures on X that Tesla will soon completely solve the current problems with autonomous driving. As soon as the Optimus, a humanoid robot, goes into series production, things will look bleak for all short sellers.
Towards the end of the tweet, he addresses Gates directly and predicts that he too would be “wiped out”:
The feud between the two billionaires goes back several years. In 2022, Musk railed against Gates, saying he couldn’t take him seriously when it came to his position on climate change (via CNBC).
Gates would be short the very company that would do the most to solve climate change. However, Fortune’s research could not determine whether the billionaire still maintains his short position against Tesla today.
Gates speculates that Tesla will lose value
What exactly is a short seller? Elon Musk lends his shares on the market to other shareholders. This probably includes Bill Gates, whose wealth is currently surpassed by one of his former employees. The short sellers proceed as follows:
Through this process, speculators make a profit because the shares are sold at a high price and bought again at a lower price.
However, this method involves a high risk: the shares could rise instead of falling, causing the short seller to suffer losses.
What does Gates say about short selling? Although Gates is said to be betting on Tesla’s decline in value, he speaks positively about Musk’s company in public. In several interviews, he praised the company’s work in electrifying the automotive industry (via YouTube).
It is still not clear whether Gates is relying on short selling. On the other hand, we do know that Gates demanded a lot from his employees. He himself had a penchant for working for hours without breaks and demanded the same from his employees: Bill Gates remembered the license plates of his employees and did not want them to rest