Bill Gates says Elon Musk's ambition to colonize Mars is not a good use of money

Bill Gates questioned whether Elon Musk's existent priorities would marque him a bully philanthropist, taking contented with his chap billionaire's ambition to nonstop radical to Mars.

In an interrogation with the BBC, acceptable to beryllium broadcast connected Friday evening, the Microsoft co-founder was asked if helium thought Musk would suffice arsenic a philanthropist. Gates responded saying helium doesn't deliberation Musk is 1 presently but that this whitethorn alteration successful future.

"Things similar Tesla are having a affirmative impact, adjacent without being a signifier of philanthropy," Gates said. "I deliberation immoderate time helium volition articulation the fertile of philanthropists utilizing his ingenuity," helium added.

He questioned the billionaire's imaginativeness of colonizing Mars. Musk's abstraction exploration venture, SpaceX, is spending aggressively connected spacecraft and rockets successful the anticipation that it volition 1 time nonstop humans to the reddish planet.

Asked by BBC writer Amol Rajan if going to Mars was a bully usage of money, Gates said: "Not successful my view."

He added that backing vaccine improvement was a amended usage of currency than putting radical connected Mars.

"It's really rather costly to spell to Mars," helium said. "You tin bargain measles vaccines and prevention lives for a 1000 dollars per beingness saved."

"It conscionable benignant of grounds you. Don't spell to Mars."

Gates and Musk person often feuded implicit the years. In April, Musk said helium asked Gates if helium was short-selling Tesla — successful different words, betting that the terms of the electrical carmaker's banal would fall.

When Gates revealed successful 2020 that helium bought himself an all-electric Porsche Taycan, a Twitter idiosyncratic asked: "I wonderment wherefore Bill Gates decided to spell with the Taycan alternatively of a Tesla."

Musk responded successful a tweet: "My conversations with Gates person been underwhelming tbh [to beryllium honest]."

Musk has besides antecedently speculated connected the anticipation of Gates shorting his company's stock. Asked astir those comments and whether helium was abbreviated Tesla, Gates told CNBC past year: "I don't speech astir my investments but I deliberation helium should beryllium precise arrogant of what he's done."

In a Bloomberg interrogation besides successful February 2021, Gates said that helium wished helium had "been much connected the agelong side" of Tesla erstwhile asked astir Musk's claims.

—CNBC's Joanna Tan contributed to this report