Elon Musk predicts Bill Gates will be ‘obliterated’ for shorting Tesla stock

“Once Tesla fully solves [self-driving] autonomy and has Optimus in volume production, anyone still holding a short position will be obliterated. Even Gates,” the Tesla CEO wrote. Optimus refers bots that perform autonomous tasks at Tesla’s Giga Texas plant.

Tesla’s stock surged more than 17% in the last two trading days after the company reported a smaller-than-expected 5% drop in vehicle deliveries for the second quarter of this fiscal year on Tuesday.

The resurgence in Tesla shares has cost short sellers an estimated $3.5 billion on a mark-to-market basis, according to data from S3 Partners, first reported by CNBC.
Short interest in Tesla currently stands at 3.5% of float, or 97 million shares shorted, with a $22.4 billion notional value, the report added.