Benzinga | Feb 17, 2021 08:26AM EST

Bill Gates Says 'Underestimating' Elon Musk 'Not A Good Idea'

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates praised Tesla Inc's (NASDAQ:TSLA) and its CEO Elon Musk's contributions on mitigating climate change in a New York Times Co (NYSE:NYT) podcast this week.

What Happened: "Well, it's important to say that what Elon did with Tesla is one of the greatest contributions to climate change anyone's ever made," the billionaire-philanthropist said on NYT opinion writer Kara Swisher's twice-weekly podcast "Sway."

"Underestimating Elon is not a good idea," Gates added.

Why It Matters: The Microsoft co-founder's comments follow Musk's appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast where he expressed a belief that Gates had a short position on Tesla stock, Electrek reported.

"I also heard that at one point he had a large short position. I don't know if that's true or not, but it seems weird," said Musk.

"People I know who know the situation pretty well, I asked them 'are you sure?' and they said 'yes, he has a huge short position on Tesla.' That didn't work out too well."

See also: How To Buy Microsoft Stock

Last year, Gates had said that electric trucks would never be a "practical solution" for carrying heavy loads over large distances. Musk was dismissive of Gates' knowledge of electric vehicles and said "he has no clue."

On an earlier occasion, Musk had expressed displeasure over Gates' purchase of a Porsche Taycan and described conversations with the former Microsoft executive as "underwhelming."

Price Action: Tesla shares closed nearly 2.4% lower at $796.22 on Tuesday and fell 0.6% in the after-hours session. On the same day, Microsoft shares closed nearly 0.5% lower at $243.70 and declined 0.18% in the after-hours session.

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Photo Courtesy: UK Department for International Development via Flickr