Elon Musk is now worth more than $300 billion, and he’s apparently ready to start spending.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO — whose net worth has ballooned by more than $140 billion this year, thanks largely to the skyrocketing value of his electric automaker — tweeted Sunday that he was willing to consider a proposal from a United Nations official who said that a $6 billion donation from one of the world’s wealthiest people could help stop world hunger.
Last week, David Beasley, the director of the UN’s World Food Programme, told CNN that it was time for the ultra-wealthy to “step up now, on a one-time basis” in order to “help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don’t reach them.” He specifically mentioned Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the two richest men in the world.
On Sunday, Musk replied to a Twitter user who pointed out that $6 billion would be just 2% of his net worth. Musk said that if the WFP could describe “exactly” how the donation would solve world hunger, he would “sell Tesla stock right now and do it.”
In a follow-up tweet, Musk added that the UN’s plan must include “open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent.”
Beasley responded to Musk a few hours later, offering to “be on the next flight to you” and saying that the executive can “throw me out if you don’t like what you hear.”
Beasley also said that the $6 billion figure wouldn’t solve world hunger, but “WILL prevent global political instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation.”
Musk replied by asking him to publicly publish the organization’s current and proposed spending in detail. “Sunlight is a wonderful thing,” Musk wrote.
In a separate tweet, Musk shared a link to a 2015 Express report alleging that UN peacekeepers were sexually abusing children in the Central African Republic in 2014, adding the comment “What happened here?”
If Musk were to sell $6 billion worth of Tesla shares to make a donation, it would be the largest known charitable contribution he has ever made.
Musk has previously been criticized for not giving away more of his massive fortune, though he has also said he prefers to remain anonymous when giving away money and earlier this year asked Twitter users for “critical feedback” on ways he can donate.
Earlier this year, Musk pledged to give away $150 million, including a $100 million prize in a carbon removal contest.
– CNBC