Naval Ravikant Says Elon Musk's A 'Purist' Recalling Why He Likely Never Speaks To Bill Gates

Angel investor Naval Ravikant says Elon Musk quit talking to Bill Gates because "money is just a tool" for the Tesla chief, and anyone betting against his mission to decarbonize transport violates his code.

What Happened: In a conversation with cartoonist Scott Adams back in November 2024, Ravikant recounted a 2022 exchange in which Musk confronted Gates over a reported major short position in Tesla stock.

When Gates defended the wager as sound financial advice, Musk replied, “What do you care about making money? … I thought you were into electric cars,” then walked away “in disgust,” Ravikant said.

“Elon's a purist. He means what he says,” he added. “The money is a tool for him to get what he's trying to do.” According to a Business Insider report, leaked texts later confirmed Musk rejected a climate-philanthropy meeting with Gates for the same reason. Musk called the short “categorically insane” and predicted Gates would be "obliterated" once Tesla's self-driving cars and Optimus robots scale.

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Ravikant argued the incident shows Musk's ambitions stretch far beyond quarterly earnings. “He wants to get humanity to the stars … I think he means to get there within a defined window of time,” he said, insisting the goal is concrete, not aspirational. Ravikant contrasted Musk with executives who trumpet bold visions they never plan to fulfill. “You kind of know they don't really mean it,” he said. “Elon, I take at face value.”

“Elon doesn't want to go down as the electric-car guy. He wants to be the man who got humanity to the stars… and he'll do whatever it takes,” remarked Ravikant.

Why It Matters: Bill Gates says Elon Musk has "been nice to me at times, and mean to me at times,” a description that fits their decade-long feud. Gates still praises Musk's engineering triumphs, saying Tesla "forced the car industry to do great EVs” and SpaceX redefined rocketry, yet he remains baffled by Silicon Valley billionaires' recent tilt toward President Donald Trump. The Microsoft MSFT co-founder says he is willing to work with Musk, but whether Musk sets aside past barbs is an open question.

More recently, Musk sparred publicly with Trump, blasting his "big, beautiful bill" as a letdown for the DOGE team and accusing the administration of withholding Jeffrey Epstein–related documents. Trump, in turn, threatened to terminate federal contracts and subsidies awarded to Musk’s companies. The feud appears to have cooled off this week.

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