Elon Musk and Bill Gates have argued over everything from climate change to the pandemic. Here's how their disagreements started — and everything that's happened since.

Elon Musk and Bill Gates have had a number of apparent feuds over the years.

Susan Walsh/AP; Mike Cohen/Getty Images for The New York Times

• Elon Musk and Bill Gates don't seem to agree on climate change, the pandemic, or space travel.
• They've made public jabs at each other for years in interviews and on social media. 
• Gates said Musk "was super mean to me" after he took issue with the Microsoft founder shorting Tesla stock.

Bill Gates and Elon Musk haven't always exactly seen eye-to-eye.

While the Microsoft billionaire and the Tesla titan have never appeared to have a particularly cozy relationship, things have heated up over the past few years as the two have openly sparred about topics as varied as electric vehicles and the pandemic. 

The two moguls are among the world's wealthiest people, with Musk at No. 1 and Gates at No. 5, according to Bloomberg data as of early September.

While their public spats may not always be serious, they do appear to fundamentally disagree on how to fight disease; how to address climate change; on whether cryptocurrency is legitimate; and on the importance of space travel.

In fact, new details from Walter Isaacson's forthcoming biography on Musk suggest that their relationship behind closed doors may've been more tense than we would've thought. 

Here's where the friction between Gates and Musk began and everything that's happened since.

Things first became tense between Bill Gates and Elon Musk in 2020.

Gates' and Musk's tense relationship began at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Pascal Le Segretain, Sean Gallup / Getty Images

At the time, they were both involved in fighting the coronavirus — Gates pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to fight the virus, while Musk was working to source and produce ventilators.

Musk had also teamed up with the German biotech firm CureVac (in which Gates is an investor) to make a device to aid in vaccine production.

But Musk was also frequently downplaying the severity of the virus and strongly criticizing stay-at-home orders.

Musk once spread misinformation about the COVID-19 virus.

PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images

He'd promoted the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, falsely said that children are immune to the virus, and suggested that coronavirus-deaths data are "misleading." 

Gates took issue with Musk's behavior regarding the virus.

Gates called Musk's views on COVID-19 "outrageous."

Ramin Talaie / Getty

"Elon's positioning is to maintain a high level of outrageous comments ... I hope that he doesn't confuse areas he's not involved in too much," Gates said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" in 2020.

The comments struck a nerve with Musk, who taunted Gates on Twitter.

In response to Gates, Musk made fun of the Microsoft founder with a series of tweets.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Musk jokingly posted multiple tweets about Gates, writing "Billy G is not my lover" and "The rumor that Bill Gates & I are lovers is completely untrue."

In fact, Musk defended his role in the coronavirus relief efforts.

Musk pushed back against Gate's criticisms on his COVID views in a podcast.

Patrick Pleul/picture alliance via Getty Images

"Gates said something about me not knowing what I was doing," Musk told The New York Times during a podcast interview in September 2020. "It's like, 'Hey, knucklehead, we actually make the vaccine machines for CureVac, that company you're invested in.'"

But another major source of tension between Gates and Musk appears to be climate change — specifically, how big of an impact Tesla has in reducing emissions and helping the planet.

The 2022 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo Turbo S, an electric car similar to the one Gates purchased.

Tim Levin/Insider

During a 2020 interview with the YouTuber Marques Brownlee, Gates said that while Tesla had helped to drive innovation and adoption of electric vehicles, he'd purchased different electric car, a Porsche Taycan.

 

Gates' comments didn't seem to have bothered Musk.

Musk and Gates have had a contentious relationship over the years.

Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images

At the time, Musk tweeted that his conversations with Gates had always been "underwhelming."

Musk also took issue with a blog post Gates wrote that questioned whether it was practical to make vehicles like 18-wheelers fully electric.

Musk has said Gates has "no clue" what the Tesla founder is doing to combat climate change.

Gus Ruelas/Reuters

Though Gates didn't mention Tesla in the blog post, the company has developed a semi, and when a Twitter user asked Musk about his opinion of Gates' comments, Musk replied, "he has no clue."

Gates has issued Musk a few rare compliments over the years.

The Microsoft founder has occasionally praised Musk for his contributions to fighting climate change.

Susan Walsh/AP; Mike Cohen/Getty Images for The New York Times

During a podcast interview in 2021, Gates said that what Musk has accomplished with Tesla is "one of the greatest contributions to climate change anyone's ever made" and said that "underestimating Elon is not a good idea."

But Gates has also touted his own climate contributions over Musk's.

Bill Gates at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021.

Jeff J Mitchell/Pool/Getty Images

"I give a lot more to climate change than Elon or anyone else," Gates said during a June 2022 interview with French YouTuber Hugo Décrypte. "I give a lot of philanthropic dollars, I back companies — you know, electric cars are about 16% of emissions, so we also need to solve that other 84%."

Musk had a one-word response to the interview on Twitter.

In response to the Gates interview, Musk responded with a tweet.

Andrew Kelly/Reuters

"Sigh," he tweeted.

 

While space exploration — specifically, colonizing Mars — is a main focus of Musk's, Gates isn't impressed.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk at the unveiling of the SpaceX Dragon V2 spacecraft in 2014.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

During an interview on a New York Times podcast in early 2021, Gates said that while he may be missing something about space travel and Musk's SpaceX, he's "not a Mars person ... I don't think rockets are the solution." He added that he'd rather spend his money on vaccines here on Earth than on space travel.

Gates has also taken issue with the mania surrounding cryptocurrencies, which Musk has helped fuel online.

Gates has been vocal about the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies.

Jason Lee/Reuters

The Microsoft billionaire noted how much energy bitcoin uses, making it not very environmentally friendly, and warned investors not to dump money into bitcoin like Tesla has.

"My general thought would be that if you have less money than Elon, you should probably watch out," he said.

 

Though Musk recently said he's "moving on" from making fun of Gates, he's done his fair share of mocking the Microsoft founder over the years.

Musk has continued to mock Gates despite saying he has moved on.

REUTERS/Steve Nesius

In April of 2022, he once tweeted an anti-vaccine political cartoon about Gates.

That same month, he mocked Gates' weight online.

Musk has also publicly taken issue with Gates over what he says is Gates' multimillion-dollar short position against Tesla.

Musk has criticized Gates over his short position against Tesla.

Maja Hitij/Getty Images

Tesla short-sellers have been a frequent target of Musk's over the years, to the point where he's argued that the practice should be illegal.

In a leaked text-message exchange between the two billionaires, which Musk said is legitimate, Gates seems to confirm that he's betting against Tesla.

"Sorry, but I cannot take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change," Musk replied.

—Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) April 22, 2022

Gates said he'd but says he'd still like to work on a climate-focused philanthropic opportunity together.

After the text exchange, Gates told Walter Isaacson, the author of the forthcoming biography of Musk, that he apologized to Musk.

Gates told Isaacson that Musk was "super mean to him" after he lowered Tesla's short position.

Taylor Hill/Getty Images

"Once he heard I'd shorted the stock, 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.

During a 2022 interview with YouTuber Hugo Décrypte, Gates seemed to imply that the issue is Musk's, not his.

When asked whether they're friends, Gates replied, "I like him. I think he does great work. I don't know him very well."

 

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