Duel of the tech billionaires
Possible fight between Zuckerberg and Musk to be broadcast on X
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX (left) and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook
© Susan Walsh/Francois Mori/AP/DPA
The two tech bosses Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg want to fight each other. According to Musk, the fight will be broadcast on his Platform X. Meta boss Zuckerberg taunts and suggests its rival service Threads as “more reliable”.
The potential battle between the tech billionaires According to Musk, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg will be broadcast on the online network Twitter, which has been renamed “X”. As Musk further announced on X on Monday, “all proceeds will also be donated to veteran charities”.
Meta boss and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg did not miss the through ball. “Shouldn’t we use a more reliable platform that can actually raise money for charity?” he asked on the company’s Threads platform, alluding to the numerous troubles since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter last year. In May, a Twitter livestream with Musk, in which Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his presidential ambitions, was overshadowed by technical problems. In return, Musk referred to a complete failure of the meta services for several hours in autumn 2021.
Mark Zuckerberg: Elon Musk shirks fight
According to Zuckerberg, Musk is avoiding the tech billionaires’ cage fight that he himself initiated. When Musk challenged him, he suggested August 26, Zuckerberg wrote on Threads on Monday night. “But he has not confirmed.” Zuckerberg was skeptical that the fight would happen. “I’m ready today,” he assured himself.
Musk wrote a few hours later that he was due for an MRI on his neck and upper back on Monday. An operation may be necessary before a fight can take place. He had said back in July that a titanium plate on his spine might need to be reinforced. He sustained an injury while trying the Japanese martial art sumo.
The two billionaires have had a rivalry for a long time. They became direct competitors when Zuckerberg’s meta launched the Threads platform in the summer, a direct competitor to Musk’s short message service Twitter, and within a few days more than 100 million users registered for it.
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Zuckerberg probably has an advantage
Musk finally announced in June: “I’m ready for a cage match if he is”. Zuckerberg replied on Instagram: “Tell me the place.” A cage match is a fight with different martial arts techniques and few rules (Mixed Martial Arts, MMA), which is held in a kind of cage.
On the Internet, the virtual cockfight immediately triggered numerous reactions and predictions about the probable outcome of a physical altercation between company bosses. The 39-year-old Zuckerberg emerged as the clear favorite over the 52-year-old Musk – the Facebook founder has been practicing martial arts Jiu-Jitsu for some time and, according to his own statements, has already won several medals.
Long feud between the billionaires
Musk wrote on Sunday night that he now lifts weights at work because he doesn’t have time to train. Zuckerberg wrote on Meta’s Twitter alternative threads a few days ago that he now has an octagon in his yard – mixed martial arts fights are fought in an octagonal cage.
A date for the possible fight has not yet been set. However, Las Vegas seems to have emerged as the venue.
Musk and Zuckerberg have had a more or less serious long-distance dispute over online networks for years. They hold opposing views on a wide range of issues from politics to artificial intelligence.
Controversial businessman Musk bought Twitter last year for the equivalent of around 41 billion euros and has since laid off en masse employees, introduced new fees, restricted moderation and reinstated many users previously blocked for widespread disinformation and conspiracy theories.