Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly declined a meeting with Bill Gates to discuss climate change philanthropy because the latter admitted to still holding a short position in Tesla stock.
According to a series of leaked texts, Bill Gates proposed a meeting with Elon Musk “to discuss philanthropic possibilities,” but Musk was unwilling to do so after Gates admitted he had not closed out his short position in Tesla.
“Sorry, but I cannot take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change,” Musk replied to Gates, declining the invitation.
There were rumours that Gates had a short position against Tesla, but he never confirmed whether he had any stake in the automaker’s stock.
Gates declined to discuss his position in a February 2021 interview with CNBC.
“Yeah, I’m not, I don’t talk about my investments, but I think he should be very proud of what he’s done,” the Microsoft co-founder said earlier.
Only a few days later, in an interview, Gates revealed more about his position, essentially admitting to shorting the stock.