Elon Musk confirmed leaked texts show him turning down a philanthropic opportunity with Bill Gates a

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Elon Musk on Friday said texts that show he turned down a philanthropic opportunity with Bill Gates over the latter's short position on Tesla are legitimate.

Screenshots of the texts were shared on Twitter by an account called Whole Mars Catalog that tagged Musk and asked if they were real.

Link to tweet

The first screenshot appears to show a text from Gates confirming a day and time to meet, to which Musk responds "Great." Another screenshot shows a text, supposedly from Gates, saying "just landed" and Musk responding "cool."

Musk then sent a follow up text, writing: "Do you still have a half billion dollar short position against Tesla?"

-more-

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-confirmed-leaked-texts-061925468.html

Cute little pissing match

[Igirl]

1. I seem to be lost on this

Musk has done more for electric vehicles and getting us away from oil than anyone. Gates has a $500MM bet against his company Tesla, that creates environmentally friendly vehicles. I understand the twitter situation, but why would you meet with someone who is betting on your failure?

[iemanja]

2. Tesla isn't the only company that makes electric cars

It is a company that makes them for the rich.


Considering Tesla has had most of its vehicles recalled, a short position is probably a good financial call. What this incident shows is what a petty little man Musk is, but then we already knew that.

[Igirl]

9. The most popular model 3 was originally released

With a $35k base level.

[Miguelito Loveless]

14. What web site are you looking at?

The prices are right their. $100K is for the their S & X models, which are 10% of their sales. Also, the fascist-lover comment is uncalled for.

[iemanja]

16. Musk is a fascist

that is a fact. He supported the anti-vaxxer convoy, and he hates Democrats. How is that worthy of anyone's admiration.

I found the price for the Tesla 3 on cars.com. Not the $18k or $35 k the poster claimed but $60-65k.

[Miguelito Loveless]

17. You can call Musk what you like,

but you accused a commenter of being a “fascist lover” for simply pointing out a fact about pricing.

[iemanja]

18. No, I didn't.

reread my post. I called Musk a fascist.

[Miguelito Loveless]

20. Nope, can't, the post was removed

Wonder why?

[Igirl]

23. The current base is around $46,900

That’s base MSRP. The world has gotten much more expensive since it’s initial release.

[tinrobot]

29. A price which they never hit.

The closest they got was a $37k version.

These days, that same Model 3 sells for $49k.

[Miguelito Loveless]

13. Tesla went for broke on EVs

When no one else would. Hate Musk if you will, but he took risks Big Auto wouldn’t touch and now is dragging the lot kicking and screaming into the future.

[iemanja]

15. I will hate Musk

Thanks for the permission.

It takes a lot of courage to make a car that costs 2x as much as the median income in Americans. Meanwhile, Nissan can make an electric vehicle for $27,400.

[Miguelito Loveless]

19. And you can't get one until recently because they stopped

Production due to battery fires. Last Q GM sold less than 100 Bolt’s, versus about 300K 3s and Ys.

[WarGamer]

27. Tesla delivered 314,000 cars in Q1... Ford and GM combined delivered 7000.

Tesla is, by far... the big dog.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

3. Have you seen the price of Teslas?

I don't think the average Joe can afford one even with the price of gas as it currently is.

My reason for posting this was due to this topic which appears you are one of the commenters.

https://democraticunderground.com/100216621418

[Igirl]

6. Have you seen what a Corolla is selling for?

I get it that they are expensive. But cars are expensive. Inflation is making it more so. I have a view in this sector so maybe i see things different. He basically made this market. He sells 80% of EV’s in the US. He made the model 3 originally priced at $35K to compete with gasoline cars. His battery technology they invented is what is making home solar and even entire grids viable for full time energy.

I hate the twitter stance but I wouldn’t join forces with someone not only betting on my future, but taking action to destroy my company value( an enormous short).

[iemanja]

12. Now it was origingally priced at $35 k

where to me you said it was "originally priced at $18k. Perhaps you should pick a price and stick with it instead of making different claims in different posts?

Toyota lists their prices for vehicles. $20,175 for a Carolla. A 2022 Tesla 3 sells for $60-65k. Not $18K and not $35K. https://www.cars.com/shopping/tesla-model_3-2022/?aff=acqgeosem55&KNC=acqgeosem55&msclkid=f9c7153cc75819824a377758accbf29f&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=DSA%20-%20US%2Fen%20-%20NB%20-%20Other%3AShopping%20%7C%20Goal%3Aclicks&utm_term=-2022%2F%20%2Fshopping%2F&utm_content=URL%20contains%202022%20and%20shopping

[Rstrstx]

21. FWIW I bought a new Model 3 in 2019 for $35k

[Igirl]

24. You are either not reading

Or purposely not comprehending what anyone is trying to tell you. The original base price of a model 3 when they were released was $35,000. People bought cars at that price.

[WarGamer]

28. A Toyota Rav4 Limited Hybrid is north of 40k...

A Model 3 is just under 50.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

30. The Nissan Leaf is perhaps the most affordable electric.

The way prices are I'm more inclined to buy a hybrid.

[ZonkerHarris]

4. Gates is not betting on Teslas failure. Only the overinflated value of the company.

[In It to Win It]

8. my opinion... Tesla is overvalued

[ZonkerHarris]

25. Tesla PE ratio as of April 21, 2022 is 209.83. So, yeah. Gates is right.

[unblock]

5. A short position merely means he thinks the stock is overvalued

It doesn't mean he's rooting for it to fail entirely or is opposed to electric cars or anything like that.

In fact, unless a company is actually in distress, short positions are almost always just a short or medium term profit opportunity based on the stock being overvalued.

Or, it could be part of a hedge. We don't know the rest of bill gates' stock positions. But he could have an even bigger long position in computing electric vehicle companies and/or etfs. So overall he might be a big supporter of electric vehicles, but simply think that tsla stock will underperform relative to its competitors.


That said, I can see it being awkward trying to hit someone up for charity when you're short their company....

[ZonkerHarris]

26. It shows Elon's business emotional imaturity to take it personally.

[TexasBushwhacker]

7. TSLA can be doing great things and still be overvalued

Right now it's around $1K per share, but it's been lower than $800 as recently as 2 months ago. Some new vehicles are behind schedule. I'm sure that it's just an investment decision on Gates part.

[hunter]

22. Musk won't be the first egomaniac to destroy a brand.

I wouldn't bet on the lasting power of Tesla.

[rockfordfile]

32. Elon Musk is a un-American pos. Anything else?

[In It to Win It]

11. If they want to make this about climate change, it should be noted that Bill Gates is investing

a lot in technologies focused at solving the harder problem of transitioning the grid to clean energy. He's also investing in carbon capture tech.They're not as sexy to talk about.

[jmowreader]

31. The most interesting e-vehicle I've seen so far...

...is the Ford e-Transit cargo van.

https://www.ford.com/commercial-trucks/e-transit/

$6325 upcharge over the gas powered one, and these things are extremely useful.

[PlutosHeart]

33. Musk is a major polluter

with his space projects. Big Trump supporter. Conspiracy whack a doodle and a fascist. Gates is also nuts and money behind GMO mosquitoes that they will not ever be able to fix the problems that will arise from that.
Sometimes I think they live in such an altered universe that they should be declared incompetent. Not friends of the environment at all.