Bill Gates Says Shorting Tesla Isn’t Hurting the Environment

(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk has accused Bill Gates of damaging his environmental credibility by shorting Tesla Inc. stock. The Microsoft Corp. founder says he’s simply diversifying his investments.

Asked by the BBC whether he had bet against the electric-vehicle pioneer, Gates said the move had nothing to do with climate change.

“The popularity of electric cars will lead to more competition for selling those cars,” Gates said in an interview on the BBC Today program. “So there’s a difference between electric cars being adopted, and companies becoming infinitely valuable.”

While both Musk and Gates donate heavily to climate-protection causes, the two have a long history of public spats, with disagreements on issues including the pandemic, electric trucks and cryptocurrencies.

“There’s no need for him to be nice to me,” Gates said of Musk.

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