Elon Musk wants to send investor ‘short shorts,’ as he battles David Einhorn

Elon Musk has offered to send a pair of ‘short shorts’ to his biggest critic and Tesla short seller David Einhorn, after the hedgefund boss was forced to admit to his shareholders that he’s lost money betting against the automaker.

Musk’s jibe came after Einhorn took a swipe at the Tesla owner in a letter to his shareholders last week, in which he claimed that the ‘accepted reality (at Tesla) appears to be that Elon Musk is above the law.’

In that same letter, Einhorn admitted that his short sell against Tesla had resulted in material losses in the third quarter.

Musk hit back on Twitter on Friday, posting a mocking letter addressed to ‘Mr. Unicorn’ (German for unicorn is Einhorn) where he sarcastically offered his ‘sympathies’ for Einhorn’s financial losses and accused him of making ‘numerous false allegations’ in the shareholders letter.

David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital CEO (left) and Elon Musk, Tesla CEO (right) are trading jabs in their latest round of rhetoric

Musk offered ‘sympathies’ because of Einhorn’s hedge fund losses against Tesla. 

‘It is understandable that you wish to save face with your investors, given the losses your suffered from Tesla’s successful third quarter, Musk tweeted Friday.  

A Twitter reply from Elon Musk to David Einhorn, where the Tesla head gave ‘sympathies’ for the ‘losses you suffered from Tesla’s successful third quarter   

Greenlight Capital CEO and Tesla investor David Einhorn in a batttle with Elon Musk, where he said ‘you say we ‘made numerous false allegations against Tesla”

Musk, did offer an olive branch by welcoming Einhorn, the head of Greenlight Capital, to tour the facilities.

‘I would like to extend an open invitation to meet with me to discuss Tesla,’ Musk wrote. 

Einhorn accepted the meet and greet, but maintained there weren’t inaccuracies in his stockholder’s letter and asked Musk to point out the specific errors.  

‘I think facility visits would be fun (can we start in Buffalo?). I might learn the difference between your alien dreadnought factory and cars made by hand in a tent,’ Einhorn said in an open letter. 

David Einhorn, who has called for Elon Musk’s ouster as the CEO at Tesla, has accepted his invitation to visit a facility and meet with Musk 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is exchanging barbs with investor and hedge funder David Einhorn

Elon Musk sent David Einhorn short shorts in 2018

This is not the first time Musk talked about ‘short shorts’ with Einhorn. In November 2018, the billionaire automaker sent Einhorn, known for betting against the company, several pairs of the underwear.  

Einhorn replied on Twitter at the time with a sarcastic thank you,’ and ‘they did come with some manufacturing defects. #tesla’

Over the past two years, Tesla’s electric car business has been besieged with manufacturing issues connected with the new Model 3 sedan. 

The power duo have butted heads for years, with Einhorn many times calling for Musk’s ouster atop Tesla.

In his letter to Musk, Einhorn said Greenlight has ‘dozens of questions’ about Tesla  including why the carmaker is ‘owed over $1billion by its customers.’ 

In the latest earning reports, Tesla turned a $342million profit.  

Betting against a company, known as short selling, involves an investor borrowing a stock, selling it, then buying it back to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that the stock they purchase will drop in price. 

That was infamously done in 2008, betting against banks that caused the housing crisis and widespread economic collapse, and portrayed in the 2015 film ‘The Big Short.’