Tesla (TSLA) short sellers haven't exactly been obliterated. Two years after Elon Musk warned that anyone betting against Tesla would eventually get crushed, the stock's decline has left short sellers sitting on roughly $9 billion in paper gains this year. "Once Tesla fully solves autonomy and has Optimus in volume production, anyone still holding a short position will be obliterated.
Even Gates," Musk wrote on July 2, 2024, on X (formerly Twitter). Sergey Brin Wants Google to Double Down on Gemini. What That Means for GOOGL Stock.
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The prediction was aimed in part at Bill Gates, who had confirmed to Musk that he had shorted Tesla, according to Walter Isaacson's 2023 biography of the Tesla CEO. Tesla short sellers had accumulated roughly $9.08 billion in unrealized gains in 2026 as of late July, according to S3 Partners data cited in market coverage. TSLA stock was down nearly 30% at the time, giving investors betting against the stock a sizable mark-to-market gain.
Those aren't necessarily realized profits. A mark-to-market gain can disappear if Tesla shares rebound, and short sellers also face stock-borrowing costs. Still, the numbers show why Musk's 2024 prediction hasn't played out—at least not yet.
Read more: Unlocking $2.1T in Energy Potential. See Why Investors Are Watching 'FASF.' Tesla's bearish positioning had also grown substantially heading into the company's second-quarter earnings report. S3 Partners said short interest had climbed to nearly 80 million shares from about 60 million in March, a roughly 33% increase.
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