When Bill Gates ‘denied’ comparing Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, called it ‘gross …’

Microsoft founder Bill Gates pushed back on comparisons between Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, saying it’s a mistake to treat them as the same kind of visionary. In a 2020 interview with Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker (via Benzinga.com), Gates acknowledged both Musk and Jobs made major contributions in the technology sector but said their styles and strengths are very different.
When asked “People have described Elon Musk as the new Steve Jobs. Is he the new Steve Jobs?”, Gates replied saying “That kind of gross oversimplification—it seems strange. Elon’s more of a hands-on engineer. Steve was a genius at design, picking people, and marketing. You wouldn’t confuse them.”
During the interview, Gates praised Musk for his work on electric cars, reusable rockets, and climate innovation, saying, “Elon Musk has built a great electric car. He’s designed and built reusable rockets. He’s an innovator in tunneling.”
But he also highlighted that Jobs’s strength, who he said, wasn’t building the tech himself, but instead shaping it into products that changed culture. “Steve was a genius at design and marketing,” Gates repeated, noting the difference in how each leader approached innovation.

While Gates has spoken positively about Musk’s work, tensions between the two have surfaced, especially after Musk accused Gates of shorting Tesla stock—something Gates later confirmed. The feud between Elon Musk and Bill Gates originates from Gates’ reported short position against Tesla stock. In interviews earlier in 2022, Gates revealed that he had placed a bet against Tesla. According to Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography of Musk, this position allegedly cost Gates a $1.5 billion loss.
Short position refers to a stock market strategy where an investor borrows shares of a stock they do not own, sells them on the open market, and aims to buy them back later at a lower price. The goal is to profit from a decline in the stock's price.