Elon Musk, the world's richest man, challenged a UN official's claim that only a small percentage of his wealth could help eradicate global hunger. Musk was responding to comments made by David Beasley, the director of the UN World Food Programme, who reiterated his demand last week after a previous tweet earlier this month, urging billionaires like Musk to "step up now, collectively and simultaneously to end hunger." Beasley specifically called for action from Jeff Bezos, co-founder of Amazon, and Elon Musk, the two men at the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Beasley stated that just 6 billion dollars could protect 42 million people from starvation.
In a tweet, Musk wrote: "If the World Food Programme can describe in this thread exactly how 6 billion dollars will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it." Last week, Tesla, the electric car company led by Musk, joined the ranks of companies valued at over a trillion dollars. The 6 billion dollars would be a small fraction of Musk's current net worth of 311 billion dollars—less than the 9.3 billion dollar increase in his wealth on October 29 alone.
