Elon Musk likens Bill Gates to pregnant man emoji in scathing tweet

Tesla founder Elon Musk dissed Bill Gates' gut on Twitter today, posting a photo of the Microsoft mogul alongside Apple's controversial pregnant man emoji 'in case you need to kill a boner.'

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1517707521343082496

Musk, the world's richest person and chief executive of the American company, posted a follow-up image in response to the Friday post of six hooded figured captioned 'shadow ban council reviewing Tweet.'

The lowbrow joke could further infuriate woke Twitter staffers angered by Musk's ongoing bid to buy the firm after saying he'd take a hardline stance supporting free speech.

That is because the pregnant man emoji is aimed at being inclusive to transgender people - with Musk frequently taking aim at what he sees as woke overreach, while repeatedly insisting that he bears no ill-will towards the LGBTQ community.

Many have moaned about Musk, accusing him of being a transphobe over a 2020 tweet mocking pronouns, as well as a bully.  But others have said he is the breath of fresh air that American needs against big tech censorship.

Responses to the richest man's jab at the fellow billionaire's expense garnered mixed reactions on the platform:

'How is this man such a savage hahahaha,' wrote one user.

'Did he attack you, though? Just trying to figure out the motivation for the post,' wrote @BarExamTutor.

'And not being overly-sensitive or holier than thou or anything like that. But something about attacking appearance has a high-school-age "bully" kind of feel to it.'

Gates, the world's third richest man after Musk and Jeff Bezos, took a shot earlier this year at the Tesla CEO after the electric vehicle maker announced taking a $1.5 billion stake in Bitcoin.

'Elon has tons of money and he's very sophisticated, so I don't worry that his Bitcoin will sort of randomly go up or down,' Gates told Bloomberg on Thursday.

'I do think people get bought into these manias who may not have as much money to spare, so I'm not bullish on Bitcoin. My general thought would be that if you have less money than Elon, you should probably watch out,' he said.

Gates has also previously made comments about electric trucks like the Tesla Semi not being viable, which Musk countered.

In an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience, Musk said he believes that the Microsoft founder had a big short position on Tesla stocks at one point.

'I 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,' Musk told Rogan.

'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.'

The tweet came hours after it was reported Musk is poised to collect a $23billion bonus after electric car company Tesla reported its record quarterly profits.

Musk, the world's richest person and chief executive of the American company - who already has an estimated $249billion to his name - is now set to receive a bonus share payout after Tesla posted a $3.3 billion quarterly profit on Wednesday.

The news, combined with projections of another strong year of production growth in 2022, saw Tesla stock rise 3.2 percent - despite lingering supply chain woes.

The expected windfall to Musk's already enormous fortune came as the businessman secured a $46.5 billion package to fund his audacious attempt to launch a takeover of social media company Twitter.

He already holds 9.2 percent of the company, and said Thursday he has the funds necessary to make an offer for the rest.

But the company plans to fight back. To halt a takeover, Twitter's board plans to activate a 'poison pill' if Musk comes to own more than 15 percent of the company.

Tesla - the world's most valuable automaker - said its revenue was $18.8 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, versus estimates of $17.8 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. This is up 81% from a year earlier.

Revenue from sales of its regulatory credits to other automakers jumped 31% to $679 million in the first quarter from a year earlier, helping boost revenue and profits.

Its earnings per share was $3.22, beatings analysts' estimates of $2.26.

Tesla's pre-tax profit (EBITDA) per vehicle delivered rose by more than 60% to $16,203 in the latest quarter compared with a year earlier.

The results let Musk meet a hat trick of performance goals worth a combined $23 billion in new compensation.

He receives no salary and his pay package requires Tesla's market capitalization and financial growth to hit a series of escalating targets.

Tesla's figures were boosted by the delivery of a record 310,000 cars in the first quarter as the firm shrugged off challenges in its supply chain including Covid-19 outbreaks and computer chip shortages.

The figures put him in line for the next three tranches of a bumper share award agreed in 2018 if he managed to increase its market value to $650billion within ten years.

The bonus is structured to be paid out in 12 tranches, each of which allows Musk, 50, to buy 8.4million Tesla shares for $70 each, a massive discount to its current stock price of around $1040. Musk has so far received eight of these tranches.

On an investor conference call, Musk said Tesla has a reasonable shot at achieving 60 percent vehicle delivery growth this year and remains confident of seeing 50 percent annual delivery growth for several years.

Tesla raised its prices in China, the United States and other countries, after Musk said in March the U. S. electric carmaker was facing significant inflationary pressure in raw materials and logistics amid the crisis in Ukraine.

'Our own factories have been running below capacity for several quarters as supply chain became the main limiting factor, which is likely to continue through the rest of 2022,' Tesla said in a statement.

The price increases are designed to cover higher costs for the next six to 12 months, which protects Tesla on orders for cars that it may not deliver for a year.

'Price increases are nicely exceeding cost inflation,' said Craig Irwin at Roth Capital.

'Chinese production issues seem well managed, and we expect Austin and Berlin to make up the slack from Shanghai's 19-day outage,' he said referring to Tesla's two new factories in Texas and Germany which have started deliveries in recent months

Tesla said it has lost about a month of build volume out of its Shanghai factory due to COVID-related shutdowns. It said production is resuming at limited levels, which will impact total build and delivery volume in the second quarter.

Musk expected Tesla's total production in the current quarter to be similar to that of the first quarter.

Tesla shares have risen nearly 1,800 per cent in the past three years, from just over $50 to around $980. That values the company at over $1trillion – making it worth more than the next 12 largest carmakers combined.

Musk's wealth continued to increase after he launched an unsolicited bid to buy Twitter on April 14 for $54.20 a share, saying the influential microblogging platform had fallen short of free-speech imperatives.

The following day, Twitter moved to defend itself against the $43 billion takeover effort, announcing a 'poison pill' plan that would make it harder for the billionaire to get a controlling stake in the social media company.

Despite Musk's great wealth, the question of financing had been seen as a potential stumbling block, as much of Musk's holdings are in Tesla shares rather than cash.

But on Thursday, it was reported that he has lined up $46.5 billion in financing for a possible hostile takeover of Twitter and is 'exploring' a direct tender offer to sha... (Read more)

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