“๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ค ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ค ๐๐๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ : ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ ‘๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฒ๐๐’ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ๐ง’๐ญ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ญ-๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ !”
Billionaire Elon Musk (left) and billionaire Bill Gates
On July 3,ย Elon Muskย warned Bill Gates not to โirritateโ him any further. Musk declared that the Microsoft co-founder would face the risk of being โobliteratedโ if he continued to bet against Tesla.
According to Fortune, the reason is because Musk believes he will turn the automaker into a $30 trillionย AIย giant once Tesla completes its strategy of shifting from prioritizing electric vehicle sales to operating a profitable fleet of robotaxis and humanoid robots.
On social network X on July 3, he wrote: โOnce Tesla completely solves the self-driving problem and the Optimus robot is mass produced, anyone still holding a short position on the stock will be wiped out. Even Gates.โ
Elon Musk warns that those who short Tesla stock will be โwiped out.โ Photo: X
Fortune revealed that the rivalry between the two tech giants became public after a leaked conversation in 2022 showed that the worldโs richest man refused to support Gatesโ philanthropy when he learned that he was still betting half a billion dollars that Teslaโs stock price would fall.
โSorry, but I canโt take your climate change philanthropy seriously when you still have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to address climate change,โ Musk wrote in the undated text message.
At the time those messages were leaked, Gates was said to have regretted his bearish decision on Tesla. It is unclear whether he still holds shares in the company.
Still, Muskโs warning that short sellers will be โwiped outโ is seen as a bold statement for someone whose company has been the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 this year.
Tesla is now shifting its focus to developing robotaxi and humanoid robots. Photo: Getty Images
Teslaโs car sales are expected to fall 6.6% in the first half of 2024, while Muskโs Cybertruck pickup truck is struggling to meet high market expectations.
At the same time, he also abandoned the goal of increasing Teslaโs electric vehicle sales from 1.8 million last year to 20 million by 2030. But Elon Musk is not someone who easily backs down in the face of difficulties.
In fact, Teslaโs stock has been on a recovery streak since the unveiling of its new โCyberCabโ robotaxi model, signaling that Musk will finally solve the self-driving problem.
The CEO then said 2025 could see a return to electric vehicle sales growth with new low-cost models.
Long-standing concerns that the Tesla CEO might resign from the company entirely due to the loss of a 2018 compensation deal were allayed last month when Vanguard, the companyโs second-largest investor, joined others in voicing his support.
Finally, Tesla recently announced that it has prevented a decline in vehicle sales in the second quarter of 2024 by liquidating excess inventory.
