Bill Gates is unsure of what to make of Elon Musk’s decision to buy Twitter and isn’t bothered by the digs the Tesla CEO makes at his expense.

Gates spoke Wednesday at an event hosted by the Wall Street Journal and touched on Musk’s recent $44 million purchase of Twitter. Gates sidestepped claims that he has a short position on Tesla, which is trading at about $902.

While the Microsoft founder said he is unsure what the future of Twitter is with Musk at the helm, he did warn that the social site needs a clear stance on misinformation. Musk has said that he wants to promote “free speech” on Twitter, though it is unclear how he plans on doing it.

“He actually could make it worse,” Gates said, referring to Musk’s ownership of Twitter.

But Gates hedged on his comments: “That's not his track record. I mean his track record with Tesla and SpaceX is pretty mind-blowing at putting together a great team of engineers and taking the people who work in those fields in a less bold way and really showing them up. I kind of doubt that will happen this time, but we should have an open mind and never underestimate Elon.”

Gates' concern about misinformation comes as he has been the target of false posts that have spread on social media rampantly, especially at the height of the COVID pandemic, including claims that he was taking hydroxychloroquine for the coronavirus.

Musk has been quick to hit back at Gates. He has accused Gates of shorting Tesla stock after he refused to participate in a philanthropic project with him.

In April, Musk taunted Gates with a meme post on Twitter. It portrayed Gates next to a pregnant man emoji, mocking his weight.

The tweet from Musk came amid a series of screenshot texts that were posted on Twitter that appeared to be between the two billionaires. In the texts, Musk claimed Gates was shorting Tesla’s stock because he wouldn’t work on the climate change project.

Musk said on Twitter that the screenshots were indeed real, Business Insider reported.

Gates contends that the digs from Musk don’t bother him.

“I do not think that shorting Tesla is an indication of your seriousness about climate change," Gates said about the tweets. "I applaud Tesla's role in battling climate change. I have nothing but positive things to say about Elon. If he makes Twitter worse, I will speak out about that."

According to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, Musk is clearly the world's richest person with a net worth of $258 billion. Gates is ranked fourth with $125 billion.

Bill Gates said his Breakthrough Energy company would spend $1.5 billion over the course of three years with the goal of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change, according to US media reports
Bill Gates said his Breakthrough Energy company would spend $1.5 billion over the course of three years with the goal of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change, according to US media reports AFP / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS
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