Screenshots leaked on Twitter showing a conversation between Elon Musk and Bill Gates are real, Musk says.
The news shows Musk turning down a philanthropic opportunity from Gates due to his short position against Tesla.
“I can’t take your philanthropy on climate change seriously,” Musk said.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Friday that chat messages in which he turned down an offer from Microsoft founder Bill Gates on “philanthropic opportunities” are genuine. The reason is Gates’ short position on Tesla of 500 million US dollars.
Screenshots of the lyrics were previously shared on Twitter by user WholeMarsBlog, who tagged Musk and asked if they were real.
The origin of the screenshots was not immediately clear, apparently they were first published by DeFiance Media. The color of the text boxes indicates that the screenshots were taken with Musk’s phone.
The first screenshot appears to show a text message from Gates confirming the date and time for a meeting, to which Musk replied “great.” Another screenshot shows a text purportedly from Gates saying “just landed,” to which Musk replied “cool.”
Musk then sent another text message, in which he wrote, “Still half a billion dollars short on Tesla?”
“I’m sorry to say I haven’t disbanded them yet,” Gates replied, per the screenshots, adding, “I’d love to talk about philanthropy opportunities.”
Musk replied, “Sorry, but I can’t take your climate change philanthropy seriously when you have a massive short position on Tesla, the company that is making the biggest contribution to solving climate change.”
A short position means that an investor is selling a borrowed stock with the intention of later buying it back at a lower price, essentially betting that the stock’s value will fall.
In response to the screenshots being released, Musk tweeted that they were genuine but that he had not shared them. They were probably made public “through friends of friends”.