Elon Musk to Start a Cryptocandy Company
The billionaire inventor announced on Twitter that he will be starting a candy company after a public spat with fellow billionaire Warren Buffett over the value of crypto.
At the Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting on Saturday, 5th May 2018, the 87-year-old billionaire and legendary investor, Warren Buffett called cryptocurrencies “non-productive assets”, saying that they deliver nothing other than supposed scarcity.
“What does it produce itself? Anytime you buy non-productive assets, you are counting on someone later on buying a non-productive asset. It does come to a bad ending; cryptocurrencies will come to a bad ending. If I could buy a five-year put on every one of the cryptocurrencies, I’d be glad to do it but I would never short a dime’s worth,” Mr Buffett said, concluding that bitcoin is “probably rat poison squared.” Buffett’s long-time right-hand-man, Charlie Munger, added insult to injury by saying that trading in cryptocurrencies is “just dementia”.
Once he was done FUD-ing Bitcoin, Mr Buffett turned his attention to Tesla, which at its latest earnings call reported a $784.6 million ($4.19 per share) loss.
In response to the criticism of Tesla’s performance Elon stated that:
“I think moats are lame. They are like nice in a sort of quaint, vestigial way. If your only defense against invading armies is a moat, you will not last long. What matters is the pace of innovation, that is the fundamental determinant of competitiveness.”
Mr Buffett didn’t appreciate the insinuation and challenged Musk by saying that:
“I don’t think he’d want to take us on in candy,” referring to Berkshire-owned See’s Candies as an example of an entrenched business with a deep moat around it.
It didn’t take long for Musk to respond on Twitter hinting that he will be starting a new candy company called “Cryptocandy”.
Cryptocandy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2018
Then it was Mr Buffett’s turn and here’s what he had to say on CNBC yesterday:
Don’t you just love crypto guys? We never have a boring day (no pun intended against any of Musk’s companies of course).