Musk targets Gates over his short bet on Tesla, urges him to close position soon

Elon Musk takes aim at Bill Gates over his short bet on Tesla, warns Microsoft founder to close it soon

Elon Musk has once again put Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in the spotlight for his long-running short position against Musk-led electric vehicle company, Tesla. The Tesla chief has reignited the years-old dispute with a fresh remark on social media, suggesting that Gates should settle the bet if he has not already done so.

On Saturday, the Tesla Owners Silicon Valley handle on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) said that Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates is covering his Tesla short position as a response to the news that the Bill Gates Foundation dumped 65% of its Microsoft stock position for a total of $8.8 billion.

Responding to the post, Musk took aim at Bill Gates, warning him to reconsider his short position in Tesla. “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,” he wrote in a X post on Sunday.

Past controversy between the two billionaires

This is not the first time that Musk has criticised Gates for his short bet against Tesla. Around the same time last year, Musk claimed that Bill Gates' alleged short position against Tesla could potentially bankrupt the Microsoft founder.

Musk's tweet boldly declared, “If Tesla does become the world's most valuable company by far, that short position will bankrupt even Bill Gates.”

The feud between the two tech billionaires dates back to 2022, when Gates allegedly suffered a $1.5 billion loss due to his wager against Tesla's stock performance, according to NDTV.

Whereas Musk previously accused Gates of placing a “massive bet” on Tesla's failure during a critical period for the EV maker, a move which he said could negatively impact ordinary investors by driving down the stock price.

What does short position mean?

A short position, or short selling, is a trading strategy in which an investor bets that a stock's price will decline. They borrow shares of a stock that they don't own, sell them immediately at the current market price, and then wait for the price to drop.

If the price does end up falling, the investor buys the same number of shares back at the lower price and returns them to the lender. The difference between the selling and buying prices goes into the investor's pocket as profit.

How is Tesla's stock doing?

Billionaire Elon Musk-led electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla Inc., stock price fell nearly 2% on Friday, with shares now down nearly 10% since the shareholders approved Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk's $1 trillion pay package, according to Yahoo Finance.

The stock is currently up by 0.59% at $404.35 in after-hours trading, according to Nasdaq.

Source: LiveMint
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