Elon Musk says he will sell Tesla stock if the UN can prove the money can 'solve world hunger'.
The tech billionaire hit back at comments made by the director of the World Food Programme last week, which urged him to do something to make a difference.
Speaking to CNN, David Beasley called on Musk and Jeff Bezos (the second richest person on the planet) to reconsider where they are putting their money.
He said: "$6 billion to help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don't reach them. It's not complicated."
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Well, as he usually does, Musk took to Twitter to call out the UN official.
He wrote: "If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it."
He added: "But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent."
Musk is currently worth a colossal $311bn, and Beasley claimed that just two percent of his wealth could save more than 40 million people 'who are literally going to die'.
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Replying to Musk's tweets, he wrote: "I can assure you that we have the systems in place for transparency and open source accounting. Your team can review and work with us to be totally confident of such.
"Let's talk: It isn't as complicated as Falcon Heavy, but too much at stake to not at least have a conversation.
"I can be on the next flight to you.
"Throw me out if you don't like what you hear!"
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Clarifying his previous comments, Beasley went on: "$6B will not solve world hunger, but it WILL prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation.
"An unprecedented crisis and a perfect storm due to Covid/conflict/climate crises."
Musk ended their chat with: "Please publish your current & proposed spending in detail so people can see exactly where money goes."
He added: "Sunlight is a wonderful thing."
Mr Beasley had previously discussed some of the problems facing the UN's World Food Programme.
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He told CNN: "For example, take the United States and the region in Central America, the Dry Corridor, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua - just down in that area alone.
"We're feeding a lot of people down there and the climate is just changing with hurricanes and flash flooding; it's just devastating.
"We're out of fuel. We're out of cash, in terms of paying our people and we are running out of money and we can't get our trucks in."
I guess we'll have to wait and see what, if anything, comes of it.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Billionaire, elon musk, US News, Twitter, Technology, Politics
