Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

On Sept. 11, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have a lot in common, but they have different views on many issues.

The forthcoming Biography of Musk by well-known biographer Walter Walter Isaacson describes the love and murder between the two richest men in the world.

In early 2022, Gates shouted to Musk: "Hey, I'd love to see you and talk about philanthropy and climate change." Earlier, Mr Musk sold some of his shares in Tesla for tax reasons and invested $5.7 billion into his charitable fund. Gates spent most of his time on philanthropy a long time ago, and he had a lot of advice to give to Musk.

Gates and Musk have had several friendly interactions in the past, such as taking his son Rory to SpaceX. At that time, they agreed to have a meeting. Gates said at the time that he would have his scheduling staff call Musk's aides to confirm the details.

But Musk replied: "No one arranged my schedule." He decided not to hire a personal assistant because he wanted to take complete control of his daily work, so he added: "just ask your secretary to call me directly." It was strange for Gates to ask his assistant to call Musk, so he called Musk directly and set a time for them to meet in Austin.

On the afternoon of March 9, 2022, Gates sent a text message to Max saying: "just landed!" Musk immediately replied: "it's cool!" He then sent his confidant in Tesla, Omar Afshal (Omead Afshar), to meet Gates at the entrance of the superfactory.

Among the few who hold the title of richest man on earth, Musk and Gates have a lot in common: they both have analytical minds, the ability to stay focused and self-confidence bordering on arrogance, and no one wants to suffer from fools. However, all these common points make it possible for them to end up in conflict, as happened when Musk began to show Gates around the factory.

Gates believes that batteries will never be able to power large trucks, and solar energy will not be the main solution to climate problems. "I showed him (Musk) some numbers," he said. I obviously know something he doesn't know in this field. "

Gates also made it difficult for Musk on Mars. "I'm not a Martian and he's obsessed with Mars," he said. I asked him to explain to me what he thought about Mars, which was a very strange way of thinking. this is a crazy thing, maybe there is a nuclear war on Earth, so people go to Mars, they will come back, you know, they are still alive after we all kill each other. "

Nonetheless, Gates found himself impressed by Musk's factory and his detailed knowledge of each machine and process. He also praised SpaceX for deploying large star chain satellite Internet and providing Internet services from space. "Twenty years ago, I invested in Teledesic and planned to launch several hundred Leo satellites to provide two-way broadband telecommunications services to the world, and now the star chain has realized my dream," Gates said.

At the end of the visit, Gates turned to philanthropy. Musk expressed his view that most of it was "nonsense". He estimates that every $1 invested in philanthropy will have an impact of only $0.2. By investing in Tesla, he can do more good things to stop climate change.

"Hey, I'm going to show you five projects, each with an investment of more than $100 million," Gates replied. He listed and funded projects for refugees, American schools, AIDS treatment, genetically driven eradication of certain types of mosquitoes and genetically modified seeds to combat the effects of climate change. Gates was so generous in philanthropy that he promised to write a "very long idea description" for Musk.

However, they must first resolve a controversial issue. Gates once shorted Tesla's stock, betting that Tesla's share price would fall. However, he was proved wrong. By the time he arrived in Austin, Gates had lost 1.5 billion dollars. When Musk heard about it, he was very angry because the short sellers had made him suffer. Gates is sorry about this, but it does not appease Musk. Gates said: "I apologized to him! when he heard that I shorted Tesla stock, he was very mean to me, but he was very mean to a lot of people, so you can't take it too personally!"

This debate reflects a different mindset. When asked about the reasons for shorting Tesla, Gates explained that he had calculated that the supply of electric cars would exceed demand, which would cause Tesla's share price to fall. But he does not seem to answer the above question, that is, why short the stock? Gates was a little confused about this, but finally gave an obvious answer: he thought shorting Tesla could make money!

This way of thinking is strange to Musk. He believes in the mission of turning the world to electric cars, and he invests all the money available to it, even if it doesn't seem like a safe investment. A few days after Gates left, Mr Musk asked: "how can anyone say they are keen on climate change and then do the opposite to minimise investment in companies committed to climate change? this is pure hypocrisy. Why make money from the failure of a sustainable energy car company?"

In mid-April, Gates sent Musk a promised document on philanthropic advice written by him himself. Musk texted to answer a simple question: "do you still have $500m to short Tesla's position?"

Gates is sitting in the restaurant of Four Seasons Hotel Washington D.C.. His son Rory has just started graduate school. He smiled and showed Rory Musk's reply and asked him how to answer it.

"just give a short answer and change the subject quickly," Rory suggested.

Gates tried. "I'm sorry, I haven't closed the deal yet, but I'd like to discuss the possibility of getting involved in philanthropy," he said. "

However, this strategy does not seem to be working. Musk immediately hit back: "Sorry!" when you hold a large short position in Tesla, I can't take your philanthropy on climate change seriously, and Tesla is the company that has done the most to solve climate change problems. "

When Musk is angry, he becomes mean, especially on X (formerly Twitter). He posted a picture of Gates in a golf shirt on the platform, in which Gates's belly was bulging and looked like he was pregnant.

Gates was really confused: why did Musk feel uneasy about him shorting Tesla stock? Musk is also puzzled by why Gates is indifferent to this. Musk sent a letter to the biographer after communicating with Gates: "at this moment, I am sure he is absolutely crazy and a complete jerk!"

For Gates, his attitude is much more amiable. In late 2022, when he attended a dinner in Washington, D.C., when people were criticizing Musk, Gates defended him by saying: "you can say anything about Musk's behavior, but in our time, no one has done more to promote scientific progress and innovation!"

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