Elon Musk says Bill Gates still holds a massive short position against Tesla and is funding attackers
On October 30, 2026, Elon Musk said in reply to Katie Miller’s post that Gates is funding people who attack him and that he still has a massive short position against Tesla. Katie Miller had previously posted that the Gates Foundation was one of the main sponsors of Kara Swisher’s podcast and noted that this made Swisher’s motive for targeting Musk clearer.
According to Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography Elon Musk and text messages leaked in 2022, Gates acknowledged at the time that he held about $500 million of Tesla short positions and said that by the time of their 2022 meeting, the position had lost about $1.5 billion. Musk has since repeatedly claimed publicly that the short position remains open, including posts in December 2024, November 2025 and December 2025. As of this verification, Gates himself has not publicly confirmed or denied whether the current short position still exists.
Original sources:
Title: No kidding, wow. Gates is funding people who attack me. He still has a massive short position against Tesla. Publisher: Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Publication date: 2026-10-30 URL: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2116217692931924007 Source type: firsthand post Verification status: This read reviewed the full post and reply context, verification date 2026-10-30 Supporting content: Musk’s statement that Gates is funding attackers and still holding a massive short position against Tesla
Title: Bill Gates and Elon Musk: An excerpt from Walter Isaacson Musk bio Publisher: CNBC (excerpted from Walter Isaacson’s Elon Musk) Publication date: 2023-09-10 URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/10/bill-gates-and-elon-musk-an-excerpt-from-walter-isaacson-musk-bio.html Source type: media report (biography excerpt) Verification status: This read reviewed the relevant excerpt, verification date 2026-10-30 Supporting content: Historical record that in 2022 Gates acknowledged holding about $500 million of Tesla short positions and that it had already lost about $1.5 billion at the time; does not prove that the short position still existed in 2026
ABAB AI Insight
The public dispute between Elon Musk and Bill Gates over Tesla short positions began in 2022. According to Isaacson’s biography, Gates contacted Musk at the time to discuss philanthropy and climate issues, and Musk replied that he could not take Gates’s climate philanthropy seriously because Gates held a large short position against Tesla. In the text messages, Gates acknowledged that he had not closed it out, and in the biography explained that his view was based on the belief that electric vehicle supply would exceed demand. Gates also told Isaacson that Musk was super mean to him after learning about the short.
Musk has continued to refer publicly to the position. In a December 2024 post, he said that if Tesla became the world’s most valuable company, the short could even bankrupt Gates; in November 2025 and December 2025, he said separately that the position had been held for about eight years, represented about 1% of total shares, and that losses could exceed $10 billion. These are all Musk’s unilateral statements, and no independent disclosure documents confirm that the position is still open.
Katie Miller’s post linked the Gates Foundation’s sponsorship of Kara Swisher’s podcast with coverage targeting Musk. As a nonprofit, the Gates Foundation provides media sponsorship, while a personal stock short position belongs to a different legal and accounting entity; Musk grouped them together by saying that Gates is funding people who attack him. There is currently no public record showing that Gates himself directly funded personal attacks against Musk.
This latest confirmation, expressed as No kidding, wow plus the specific accusation, has brought the short-position dispute that was already public in 2022 back into focus in 2026 through Musk’s own emphasis. It does not change Tesla’s equity structure or regulatory status, but it puts a personal financial position and a media sponsorship relationship back into public discussion. Whether the short position still exists remains dependent on whether Gates or related entities make further disclosure.
ABAB News · Rules of Cognition
When a party repeatedly confirms a financial position on their own and the other side does not deny it, it can continue to be treated as a point of dispute.
Foundation sponsorship and a personal short position belong to different entities, so the evidence for combined allegations must be verified separately.