He was super mean to me: Bill Gates on Elon Musk in new biography

Elon Musk and billionaire-philanthropist Bill Gates got into a verbal spat after the Tesla CEO confronted the Microsoft founder over 'shorting' the electric-car company's shares last year, Musk’s upcoming biography by American author-journalist Walter Isaacson has revealed.

Shorting or short selling is a way of making money on stocks for which the price is falling. It is also referred to as "going short".

In excerpts from the book titled Elon Musk published by CNBC, Isaacson writes that in early 2022, Gates spoke to Musk and said he wanted to "come see (him) and talk about philanthropy and climate" at a meeting.

The meeting happened at Musk's Texas plant, where the SpaceX owner confronted Gates over the decision to short Tesla stock. Musk said in April 2022 that Gates had taken a half-billion dollar short position against Tesla. Gates apologised for the move, but Musk was still upset and became "super mean" to the Microsoft founder.

"He was super mean to me, but he's super mean to so many people, so you can't take it too personally," Gates told Isaacson.

Canadian musician Grimes (or Claire Ellen Boucher), Musk's ex-girlfriend and the mother of three of his children, called the incident "a little bit of a d**k-measuring contest".

Gates apparently told Isaacson his decision was a business move, as he anticipated the supply of electric vehicles would soon outpace demand, leading to a price drop.

The two billionaires have been engaged in a feud since Gates shorted Tesla stock last year. Musk publicly mocked Gates on Twitter (now X) a couple of times for shorting Tesla stock "while claiming to support climate change action".