Elon Musk says there's a big difference between him and Warren Buffett
Jess Hardiman
Featured Image Credit: APFootage / Alamy Stock Photo/REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo
Elon Musk has said there’s a big difference between him and business magnate Warren Buffett, having compared himself with the Berkshire Hathaway boss during a call.
You’ll know that Musk has had a pretty big week after completing his takeover of that little-known social media platform called Twitter – having reportedly already fired several top executives.
But he also managed to find time to squeeze in Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday (26 October), where he was asked if he had any plans to create an ‘umbrella’ corporation, as Google has in owner Alphabet.
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If he were to go ahead with a parent company, it would unify Musk’s various businesses, which also include SpaceX, Neuralink, Tesla and now, of course, Twitter.
But Musk dismissed the idea also used by Buffet’s multinational conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway – which owns business such as See's Candies, Geico, and Precision Castparts and has billion-dollar stakes in the likes of Apple and Coca-Cola - saying he didn’t see much overlap between his companies.
According Markets Insider, Musk said on the call: "I'm not Warren Buffett.
"I'm not an investor. I am an engineer and manufacturing person and a technologist.
"I actually work and design and develop products," he continued. "We're not going have a portfolio of investments or whatever."
Musk has previously admitted he’s not the hugest fan of Buffett, saying his role appears to be fairly dull.
"I'm not Warren Buffett's biggest fan, frankly," he told Time in his Person of the Year interview.
"He sits there and reads all these annual reports, which are super boring."
Meanwhile, Musk’s approach is arguably anything but boring – as proven when he announced plans to buy Twitter earlier this year.
Earlier this week, the entrepreneur explained why he launched his multi-billion dollar takeover, writing on Twitter: “There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
“Most of it has been wrong.”
He continued: “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.”
Musk added: "I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t to it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love.”