A couple weeks ago Tesla CEO Elon Musk was on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast where he spoke about everything from flying vehicles to Bill Gates. One of the biggest claims Musk made was that Bill Gates lost a significant amount after having a huge short position on Tesla.
Musk said he wasn’t sure if it was true or not, but that’s what someone told him. Gates didn’t initially respond to Musk claims but has kind of fessed up to shorting Tesla stock (TSLA) in a recent interview.
There has long been tension between the two billionaires as Gates was previously noted making comments about electric trucks not being viable. Musk called Gates out saying that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about and more recently said that he was told Gates had a big short position on Tesla (TSLA) at some point.
On the heels of Musk’s comments, Gates had nothing but love for the CEO. When asked about Musk on the Sway podcast, Gates responded: “Well, it’s important to say that what Elon did with Tesla is one of the greatest contributions to climate change anyone’s ever made.”
Gates also added that people shouldn’t be so quick to underestimate him saying, “and you know, underestimating Elon is not a good idea.”
The real tea is whether or not Gates shorted Tesla stock, and we are kind of getting a straight answer. In a new Bloomberg interview, Gates pretty much fessed up without actually admitting anything saying: “Well, you know, I think Tesla is an amazing company. I wish I’d owned or been more on the long side (laugh), but it’s great. I have lots of relatives that own Teslas that I helped buy for them so nothing but positive thoughts about Tesla and its role.
Check out Gates’ full statement in the clip below where he discusses not only the EV giant but the currently skyrocketing cryptocurrency, Bitcoin: