Gates shorts $TSLA?

[TexasTesla]

So the guy who wrote the book on climate change shorts the greatest innovator of true change? FBG! ?

 

[firsttruck]

I hate the anti-competitive actions of Gates/Microsoft and the weak security of their software products over the last 35 years. There were better products that died because of anti-competitive actions of Gates/Microsoft.

I don't think Gates is short Tesla today (I don't think he is that stupid).

The questions were was Gates shorting Tesla in the early days (before 2019) when Tesla was financially vulnerable and was needing to raise capital. The huge amount of stock shorts during those days made it much more difficult for Tesla to raise capital and probably was a major reason Tesla almost went under.

Based on interviews I have seen of Gates and his evasiveness when answering this question I think he did short Tesla in the past. Gates claims he will talk about his investments when asked about shorting Tesla but just minutes before in the same interview Gates was volunteering investment info & even bragging about some of his investments.

 

[Ogre]

I don't think Gates is short Tesla today (I don't think he is that stupid).

You’d think so, but apparently this was fairly recent.



There were also a couple recent interviews where Gates was asked directly if he was short Tesla and Gates chose to talk around the question rather than answer it. Tesla Daily talks about that a bit.

 

[Ogre]

The weird thing is the short position isn’t public. Gates was apparently talking about it at TED or to people who talked to Musk at TED. Not sure how you wander around bragging about how you are betting someone is going to fail, then turn around and ask them for money for your charity. That’s like a WTF moment.

Then again Gates has never impressed me as being the genius. Much of what he did with MSFT is due to Balmer’s cutthroat business practices and just getting lucky.

 

[John K]

Is it possible to be bot bearish and bullish on a stock at the same time?

Is being bearish on T$SLA synonymous with being against climate change?

T$LSA is a goldmine with multiple strategies in generating and losing wealth. IMO, if investors take a long term bearish stance, they take on tremendous risk. Short term bearish dips are another matter.

Why demonize individual investment approaches?

 

[John K]

Of course, I would not mind Tesla pushing the vote for the split this month and let the bears scramble during the aftermath.

 

[firsttruck]

....

Then again Gates has never impressed me as being the genius. Much of what he did with MSFT is due to Balmer’s cutthroat business practices and just getting lucky.

Can not put all the blame on Balmer. Bill Gates was doing underhanded things before Balmer.

Agree Gates not genius and had one huge lucky break in getting IBM contract.
After that he used his monopoly position to put many good products and their innovators out of business.

 

[John K]

 

[Ogre]

Shorting stocks used to have a very real and practical value to people investing in a company. It made trading shares when there was a huge time lag viable. In the modern economy, shorting no longer serves anyone invested in a company or the company itself. It is a tool for Wall Street and investment banks to drive profits from nothing.

If it works against the interests of the company and it’s shareholders, is it even an investment?

It’s roughly like standing near a puddle and taking one of your friends will fall face first in that puddle. When you have a bet that someone is going to fall in the puddle, you have incentive to make sure someone actually falls in the puddle.

Lots of money bet on Tesla falling into a puddle. Lots of incentive for people to spread mis-information and lies about the company.

If one of your friends hit you up for $50 after you learned that he bet you were going to trip and fall, would you be in a hurry to lend it to him?

 

[firsttruck]

Is it possible to be bot bearish and bullish on a stock at the same time?

Is being bearish on T$SLA synonymous with being against climate change?

T$LSA is a goldmine with multiple strategies in generating and losing wealth. IMO, if investors take a long term bearish stance, they take on tremendous risk. Short term bearish dips are another matter.

Why demonize individual investment approaches?

In general it is prohibited to take out life insurance on someone you have no family or business dependency.

Shorting stock is in some ways worse because it actually raises costs to the shorted company (insuree).

 

[Ogre]

Can not put all the blame on Balmer. Bill Gates was doing underhanded things before Balmer.

Agree Gates not genius and had one huge lucky break in getting IBM contract.
After that he used his monopoly position to put many good products and their innovators out of business.

Sure, it was Gates and Paul Allen, then Ballmer got in there and turned out to be a super-star at underhanded ways of extracting money from Microsoft’s captive audience. Allen got sick of the BS and checked out.

Eventually Gates realized that Ballmer was just better at the game than he was and just stepped down entirely.

I think Gates has spent the bulk of his post Microsoft time trying to get the sort of respect Steve Jobs and Musk get but has largely fallen short.

 

[John K]

The group I gravitate would bet “Joe” would fall into a puddle, try to prevent Joe from falling, end up falling into the puddle with Joe, good natured fun giving Joe a hard time in private, never publicly outing Joe fell into a puddle.

I do not demonize anyone wishing to make a profit. I do demonize anyone being manipulative and making money at nefarious expense of others.

 

[John K]

Shorting stock is in some ways worse because it actually raises costs to the shorted company (insuree).

How so when a short position is speculative?

For the record, while I squeeze my stock from time to time, I have not and do not expect to take a short position on any company in the near future. My strategy is focused on what I think are bullish companies.

 

[jerhenderson]

So the guy who wrote the book on climate change shorts the greatest innovator of true change? FBG! ?

yeah Gates is a major hypocrite on this matter.

 

[charliemagpie]

Gates belongs to the Bilderberg Group. Musk doesn't

We're not in Kansas anymore