Musk, whose $375.5 billion fortune leads the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, reiterated that he wants to own more shares of Tesla for reasons of authority, rather than wealth.
“It’s not a money thing,” he said during a remote appearance Tuesday at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. “It’s a reasonable control thing, over the future of the company.”
Tesla shares jumped after Musk’s comments about his commitment to staying CEO, trading up as much as 3.6% before paring gains. The stock has declined 14% this year.
“Our sales are doing well at this point,” he said. “We don’t anticipate any meaningful sales shortfall.”
“They’re on the wrong side of history, and that’s an evil thing to do,” he said, referring to people damaging Tesla cars and showrooms. “Something needs to be done about them, and a number of them are going to prison, and they deserve it.”
Musk said that while it’s possible Starlink may go public at some point in the future, he’s in no rush. Although listing the company could be a way to make more money, he said it would be at the expense of additional overhead and “very annoying” lawsuits.
“Something needs to be done about the shareholder derivative lawsuits in the US,” Musk said, adding that law firms are seeking out “a puppet plaintiff with a few shares” to initiate litigation against companies.
Musk referred to McCormick as “the activist who is cosplaying as a judge in a Halloween costume.”
“Who does Bill Gates think he is to make comments about the welfare of children?” Musk responded.
When asked whether he’d checked if Gates is right that cuts to USAID might cost millions of lives, Musk challenged his fellow billionaire to “show us any evidence whatsoever that that is true. It’s false.”
“I think I’ve done enough,” he said.
Asked if this is because of the blowback he’s been getting, Musk demurred.
“If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it,” he said. “I do not currently see a reason.”
The government of the State of Qatar is the underwriter of the Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg.
