Tesla boss Elon Musk has told the United Nations that he is willing to sell his Tesla stock if they can prove how 2% of his net worth will solve global hunger.
The challenge was in response to the director of United Nations World Food Program (WFP) – David Beasley – who told CNN last week that world hunger could be solved with a “one-time” payment from the wealthiest individuals such as Musk.
Beasley added that 2% of Mr Musk’s current wealth – which is around $6bn of his more than $300bn net worth would “help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don’t reach them. It’s not complicated.”
Having caught wind of the comments, Musk to Twitter over the weekend to say that he is willing to help the WFP’s cause if they can explain how $6 billion will solve world hunger.
“If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it,” Musk wrote.
He followed up with: “But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent.”
Following Mogul’s tweets, Mr Beasley tweeted: “$6B will not solve world hunger, but it WILL prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation. An unprecedented crisis and a perfect storm due to Covid/conflict/climate crises.”
Replying to Musk directly, Beasley wrote: “I can assure you that we have the systems in place for transparency and open source accounting,” he wrote. “Your team can review and work with us to be totally confident of such.”
“Let’s talk: It isn’t as complicated as Falcon Heavy, but too much at stake to not at least have a conversation, he added. “I can be on the next flight to you. Throw me out if you don’t like what you hear!”
The Twitter back and forth comes a week after Musk’s wealth surged by $36 billion in a single day – the largest single-day gain recorded by Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
It’s not quite clear if discussions between Musk and Beasley are currently taking place but hopefully productive talks are being had.
[Image: Nick_ Raille_07 / Shutterstock.com]